Name: Anonymous 2006-06-01 22:51
In the mid 90’s, many people were worried about the crime rate. People were saying by 2000, it was going to be a “bloodbath.” However, the exact opposite happened, crime rate went down. Many thought it was because of: innovative policing strategies, increased reliance on prisons, changes in crack and other drug markets, aging of the population, tougher gun control laws, strong economy, increased number of police, etc. However, when you look at these reasons, they seem to be just wishful thinking. (I can go into how they are not, but I just don’t have the time).
How can we tell if the abortion crime link is a case of causality? Well, when a child is aborted, that usually means that the mother does not want the child, feels as though it will not grow up in a good household, or simply she feels she cannot care for it. If that child is forced to grow up in this unloving household, single mother/poor, statistically that child has a greater chance of going to crime when he grows up.
In the first year in the passing of Roe v. Wade, some 750,000 women had abortions (1 abortion for every 4 births). By 1980, the numbers 1.6 million (1:2.25) Thus, by the time 1995 rolled around, the previous generations where abortion was illegal, grew up, and the generation where abortion was legal came in.
Now this may seem like a coincidence, but look at the states where abortion was LEGAL before the senate passed a nation wide law. In New York, California, Washington, Alaska and Hawaii, a woman could get an abortion 2 years before the rest of the nation, and indeed those states saw crime begin to fall earlier than the other 45 states. Between 1988 and 1994, violent crime in the early states fell 13% compared to other states. Between 1994 and 1997 their murder rates fell about 23% more than those of other states.
To further push the correlation, sure enough the sates with the highest abortion rates in the 1970’s experienced the greatest crime drips in the 1990’s. Since 1985, states with high abortion rates have experienced a roughly 30% drop in crime relative to ones with low abortion rates.
Moreover, there was no link between a given states abortion rate and its crime rate before the late 1980s, then the first cohort affected by legalized abortion was reaching its criminal prime, which is yet another indication that Roe v. Wade was indeed the event that tipped the crime scale.
what the link between abortion and crime does say is this: when the government gives a woman the opportunity to make her own decisions about abortion, she generally does a good job of figuring out if she is in a position to raise the baby well. If she decides she can't, she often chooses the abortion.
How can we tell if the abortion crime link is a case of causality? Well, when a child is aborted, that usually means that the mother does not want the child, feels as though it will not grow up in a good household, or simply she feels she cannot care for it. If that child is forced to grow up in this unloving household, single mother/poor, statistically that child has a greater chance of going to crime when he grows up.
In the first year in the passing of Roe v. Wade, some 750,000 women had abortions (1 abortion for every 4 births). By 1980, the numbers 1.6 million (1:2.25) Thus, by the time 1995 rolled around, the previous generations where abortion was illegal, grew up, and the generation where abortion was legal came in.
Now this may seem like a coincidence, but look at the states where abortion was LEGAL before the senate passed a nation wide law. In New York, California, Washington, Alaska and Hawaii, a woman could get an abortion 2 years before the rest of the nation, and indeed those states saw crime begin to fall earlier than the other 45 states. Between 1988 and 1994, violent crime in the early states fell 13% compared to other states. Between 1994 and 1997 their murder rates fell about 23% more than those of other states.
To further push the correlation, sure enough the sates with the highest abortion rates in the 1970’s experienced the greatest crime drips in the 1990’s. Since 1985, states with high abortion rates have experienced a roughly 30% drop in crime relative to ones with low abortion rates.
Moreover, there was no link between a given states abortion rate and its crime rate before the late 1980s, then the first cohort affected by legalized abortion was reaching its criminal prime, which is yet another indication that Roe v. Wade was indeed the event that tipped the crime scale.
what the link between abortion and crime does say is this: when the government gives a woman the opportunity to make her own decisions about abortion, she generally does a good job of figuring out if she is in a position to raise the baby well. If she decides she can't, she often chooses the abortion.