Social Inequality in Reproductive Loss

Elwood Carlson, Max Planck Institute for Demographic Research
Mariana Mourgova, Max Planck Institute for Demographic Research
Jan Hoem, Max Planck Institute for Demographic Research

Evidence from 1,373,943 pregnancies in the Czech Republic between 1987 and 1991 include 95,580 involuntary fetal losses, 621,030 induced abortions, and 657,333 live births (of which 6,358 ended in infant deaths). Event-history models consider fetal deaths after eight weeks of gestation (both spontaneous abortions and stillbirths) as well as infant deaths following live births. Since most infant deaths occur at gestation durations when a significant share of the fetal population remains in utero, we consider the transition from viability in utero to fetal death, the transition from viability in utero to live birth, and the transition from live birth to infant death simultaneously. For early fetal deaths, induced abortions are considered as competing risks. Education of women, marital status and ages of women, are allowed to vary with time for all three processes.