Link between abortion and crime rate!

Hi ATS'ers,

Let the debate begin!

Let me start by saying that I live by the rule that I do what is right by me and the people around me and would never dictate how others should live! So you anti abortionists should think about that before responding.

Was flicking through the tele the other night and came across the doco "Freakonomics". Awesome must watch by the way...

ATS link to unrelated Freakonomics discussion here!

One segment talked about the connection between the legalisation of abortion in the 1970's and the correlation between the drop in crime rate in the 1990's.

Some interesting reading on their website some of which goes like this; (Freakonomics website)

legalized abortion in the 1970s explains a substantial part of the crime decline in the 1990s:1) Five states legalized abortion three years before Roe v. Wade. Crime started falling three years earlier in these states, with property crime (done by younger people) falling before violent crime.

When we compare arrest rates of people born in the same state, just before and just after abortion legalization, we once again see the identical pattern of lower arrest rates for those born after legalization than before.

The evidence from Canada, Australia, and Romania also support the hypothesis that abortion reduces crime.

There is evidence to show other causalities however I totally get how this link could exist and makes total sense!

In other words, women are the best judge of whether they could mentally and physically commit to raising a child and when given that choice make the right decision for themselves. When forced to go against that and keep an unwanted child could have unintended consequences.

Or another way to think about it is maybe they both should have used a condom....



Either way, TPTB stay out of our right to choose what's best for us!

What say you ATS???

I'd rather have people aborted at a later stage in life if they have criminal inklings or don't contribute all that much to society...or just brainwash them into slave labour, they won't know any different...

Look at crime rate and teenage pregnancies, might be a correlation.

Makes a lot of sense. If an area can't sustain the amount of people it has, (not enough jobs, not enough money for schools, not enough of anything basically) the frustrations of the public will manifest into crime, both as a result of need and as a result of anger.

Less people = more stuff to go around.

Originally posted by Ashtanic
legalized abortion in the 1970s explains a substantial part of the crime decline in the 1990s:1) Five states legalized abortion three years before Roe v. Wade. Crime started falling three years earlier in these states, with property crime (done by younger people) falling before violent crime.

What say you ATS???

Yah, I read the book and actually mentioned that aspect of it in a thread recently. It makes sense, though I'm happier that it is an observation of an unexpected consequence and not confirmation of a successful strategy. That would be creepy.

S&F4U!

The link is that the majority of abortions occur within poverty stricken demographic.

It stands to reason, by sound logic, that these people will choose to not have a child for what ever reason; be it moral reasons, financial reasons, or other.

Also in poverty demographics there is always more crime and violence, because people are going into survival mode - reverting to more primal instincts....