New Book, "Freedomnomics" says Abortion Increases Crime Rate

LifeSiteNews ^ | 8/10/07 | Hilary White

[wagglebee]

WASHINGTON, August 10, 2007 (LifeSiteNews.com) - A book published in June by a leading US economist in part responds to previous and oft-quoted claims that abortion has been a significant factor in lowering the U.S. crime rate. The book by John R. Lott of the American Enterprise Institute, "Freedomnomics," answers claims by liberal economist Steven Levitt that abortion, in reducing the number of "unwanted" children, has eliminated significant numbers of the kind of people who commit crimes.

Lott's 2001 study, "Abortion and Crime: Unwanted Children and Out-of-Wedlock Births" concluded that legalized abortion has in fact increased the overall violent crime rate.

"We find evidence that legalizing abortion increased murder rates by around about 0.5 to 7 percent… Others note that the legalizing of abortion might contribute to a coarsening of society that might itself lead to more crime."

"Freedomnomics," is being called a conservative response to the publication of a manifesto of liberal political and economic theory by University of Chicago economist Steven Levitt and New York Times journalist Stephen J. Dubner, which topped the 2005 New York Times bestseller list.

"Freakonomics," claimed that "legalized abortion may account for as much as one-half of the overall crime reduction" during the 1990s. This claim was seized upon by abortion advocates, notably Dr. Henry Morgentaler, Canada's most notorious abortionist, who claimed it was proof that vindicated their claims and support for abortion on demand.

The conclusion that abortion actually tends to increase crime rates coincides with a study published earlier this year. That study examined data on 237 low-income women in Baltimore and showed a statistical correlation between abortion and incidents of child abuse. Published in March in the Internet Journal of Pediatrics and Neonatology, the study a showed history of abortion is associated with more frequent acts of physical aggression toward subsequent children.

Read the study "Abortion and Crime: Unwanted Children and Out-of-Wedlock Births" online:
http://lsr.nellco.org/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1018&c...

Read related LifeSiteNews.com coverage:
Abortion Linked to Higher Rates of Child Abuse, Study Finds
http://www.lifesite.net/ldn/2007/mar/07031301.html

Media Ignoring Study Saying Abortion Increases Crime
http://www.lifesite.net/ldn/2001/sep/01091005.html

Study Linking Abortion and Lower Crime Rates Published
http://www.lifesite.net/ldn/2001/may/01051702.html

Experts Debunk Donohue/Levitt Study Connecting Abortion and Crime
http://www.lifesite.net/ldn/2001/may/01053005.html

[CounterCounterCulture]

It seems a decent hypothesis that abortion has cheapened life hence more violent crime

It would seem rather obvious.

I used to say that the only thing good about abortion is that is gives us one less future liberal. However the damn things seem to be increasing exponentially!

That the leftists use the hypothesis that abortion reduces crime ultimately justifies abortion by killing the child over the POSSIBILITY that he/she might commit a crime. As if thought crimes weren’t bad enough. Now we sentence a child to death for crime(s) he/she hasn’t committed and may never commit. That is a frightening hypothesis.

Now it would be tempting for us to allow leftists killing their own, but again that assumes the hypothesis in my prior paragraph. As tempting as it is, my values cannot allow me to justify termination on the possibility the child will be indoctrinated as a leftist. There are many people who may have started believing that kind of thinking, but eventually grew out of it.

Despite rampant abortion, it does seem our children are trending towards their ideology, and it’s no doubt because of indoctrination of our government schools. That alone is one of our greatest threats to our freedom and way of life.

[jeddavis]

Sounds like an apples and oranges mixup. Levitt was talking about crimes committed BY unwanted children, not against them.

[CounterCounterCulture]

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[cpforlife.org]

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[Sun]

The murdering of over 46 million unborn children is a legal “crime” - legal homicide.

[coconutt2000]

The problem with this analysis is that a whole lot of other things also happened. Isolating the effects of abortion as compared to the other huge changes in our society during this period seems to me to be an insurmountable challenge.

I agree. The best method for analyzing and determining the drop in violent crime rates would be to look specifically at the economy, as well as the various types of violent crimes, and their numbers relative to each other. Changes in social mores, educational institutions in those areas, and immigration/migration patterns also play a role.

I for one think that a correlation between abortion and a drop in violent crimes may exist, but that doesn't mean that the correlation is the same as a direct cause and effect relationship. It is merely and interesting factoid without any real substance.

Of course, if we can borrow Karl Rove's "Alternate Universe Multi-Dimensional Television" set, we may be able to put the question to rest. In that case, we'd be able to identify babies aborted in this time line who weren't in other timelines, and develop statistics on how many of them became violent criminals... But Rove isn't likely to lend us his AUMD any time soon... Perhaps after the 2008 elections...

[VeritatisSplendor]

I wasn’t convinced by Leavitt’s hypothesis. He says abortion reduces the number of unwanted, illegitimate children who get a bad start in life. It is quite possible that abortion has actually increased the number of children conceived in reckless acts and born to single mothers and getting a bad start in life by changing social expectations and sexual morality. Certainly the illegitimacy rate has gone up since abortion was legalized and crimes of abuse against children have gone up.

Mrs VS

[ga medic]

I don’t think either one of these theories is valid. They both correlate abortion with crime rates. They don’t provide any evidence of causation whatsoever. They also seem to mix abortion with birth control as the cause for more un-wed births. Abortion in my mind is a far different thing than using birth control.
Both make you think about how things may be related to other things, but neither is worth anything more than that.

For me, the bottom line is that abortion is wrong. Whether or not the crime rate increases or decreases as a result is irrelevant. Even if crime could be eliminated, it is wrong to kill an unborn child.

[Coleus]

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[8mmMauser]

Pinged from Terri Dailies

8mm

[Titus Quinctius Cincinnatus]

I’ve been saying this for years.....expect the libs to rebut that “correlation does not mean causation”.

[newguy357]

I read Freakonomics. I found nothing in there that would lead me to believe it was a "manifesto of liberal political and economic theory". On the contrary, I thought it was well written and thought-provoking. When it touched on political issues the authors went out of their way not to add too much social commentary.

I agree. There were some logical errors in Freakonomics, but overall it was even-handed and entertaining. There was not a strong political component to it.

Likewise, even though Levitt concluded that abortion had lowered crime I don't recall any assertion that this justified abortion. Conclusions of analyses do not necessarily imply endorsement.