Abortion Reduces Crime?

[Amused]

I don't know if it's been posted before, but two years ago Scientific American had an article show correlation between the start of legalized abortion, and the steady decrease in crime starting some 18 years later. Granted, correlation does not always mean causation, but the study is compelling nonetheless.

link

Your thoughts?

 

[LAUST]

Cause people can shag more instead of crime and not worry about it

 

[piku]

I would think completley unrelated. The only way they could be related is if someone made the hypothesis that "the average kid who would have been aborted before abortion was legal is more likely to commit a crime due to lack of love/care/etc" couldn't be very well proven with that, since the oldest a kid who wouldn't have been aborted would only be 18, which isn't quite old enough to make a dent in the crime rate figures.

 

[Amused]

1. The majority of crime IS committed by males between the ages of 18-24.

2. Unwanted children and children born out of wedlock, and/or without fathers, and/or into poverty ARE more likely to commit crimes once they reach that age bracket.

3. The timing of the begining of the steady drop in crime corrosponds perfectly with the legalization of abortion some 18 years earlier.

 

[Amused]

Folks, please read the entire article before responding, OK? LOL

 

[exp]

Very thin ice I would say. There are so many factors involved in determining the the crime rate that I can't see how anyone can definitively declare that this study proves causation unless you are consciously reaching for that answer. At best, this study does not disprove an abortion-crime linkage.

 

[Amused]

<< Very thin ice I would say. There are so many factors involved in determining the the crime rate that I can't see how anyone can definitively declare that this study proves causation unless you are consciously reaching for that answer. At best, this study does not disprove an abortion-crime linkage. >>



No one did claim causation. Only a very compeling correlation.

 

[JohnnyKnoxville]

Absolutely true.
Unwanted children = future criminals

 

[exp]

<< No one did claim causation. Only a very compeling correlation. >>



True, and I wasn't accusing anyone of doing so, but you did ask for our &quot;thoughts&quot; and mine are that anyone who can draw a definitive causal relationship from that study probably has an ulterior motive. I am not saying that there is no link between abortion and crime, only that I would need more than a single study to convince me of it.

And yes, I did read the paper.