Where Have All the Criminals Gone?

Research showed a link between the legalization of abortion in the United States in 1973 and the drop in violent crime in the 1990’s. The author’s research suggests that the drop in violent crime in the United States occurred at the same time that the first wave of babies conceived after the legalization of abortion were entering late adolescence. The author claims that many of the additional children who would have been born annually if abortion had remained illegal would have been at high risk for engaging in violent crime. The authors do not take an ideological stance on the issue, however, they do conclude that women with the right to choose abortion tend to make good decisions.

In a nut shell I learned that the nationwide legalization of abortion in 1973 contributed to the decrease in violent crime as unwanted kids who would go on to be future criminals were preemptively terminated. TRUE: Mothers who opt for abortions are typically poor, uneducated, have serious problems, and are ill-suited for parenting. Mothers of this type raise disproportionately high numbers of criminal children. Allowing them access to abortions therefore cuts the size of the criminal population, though it takes about 18 years for this to be felt by the rest of society since children raised in bad homes don’t start committing crimes until around that age. European and Asian countries, the Antipodes, and individual American states that legalized abortion before Roe v. Wade all experienced the exact same violent crime reduction starting about 20 years after the change. States with more abortions also have less crime. Legalized abortion caused 40% of the crime decrease.