When the controversial family cap law was implemented in 1992, the federal government allowed it only if state officials promised to study its impact on welfare recipients. The state also promised to research other aspects of the old welfare system, known as the Family Development Program. So far, the department has released two reports. One, issued in June, showed that abortion rates have risen among welfare mothers, even as abortion rates in general have dropped. The other, released in September, showed no significant difference between the birth rate for women who were denied more money for more children and for women who got more money when they had more children.
New Jersey has the first family cap law in the nation.
Other states have been watching New Jersey's experiment to help them decide whether to implement family caps. The Rutgers study is the first to take a long-term look at whether the cap influences a woman's decision to have a baby. Bergen Record Corp.