Adonis Diaries

What is your position on legalized abortion? Accounting for two-third in reduced crime rate?

Let’s state a few facts, if you believe in the statistical analysis of vast numeric data:

First, an unwanted child, born from a single mother, or raised by a single parent, and not enjoying any extended family support, is 50% more likely than average to live in poverty and ending up with low-educational level;

Second, an unwanted child, born from a single mother, or raised by a single parent, and not enjoying any extended family support, doubles a child propensity to commit crimes;

Third, an unwanted child, born from a single mother, or raised by a single parent, and not enjoying any extended family support, lives in an environment of low-educational surrounding and poor neighborhood, two strong indicators for a future criminal behavior;

Four, a teenage single mother is more likely to end up an addict and to commit crimes;

Fifth, potential mothers have a much better understanding of “what they can do and are willing to do with their unborn child” than all the experts combined. Teenage mothers with no family support know how their born child will fare in life:  They cannot afford to live with a lost case, especially if their education level is pretty low…

Suppose the single mother is a drug addict or alcoholic: Wouldn’t the child be born at a disadvantage from the start, physically and mentally? Would you dare condemn a single mother for aborting an unwanted child, knowing that the newborn is going to suffer from handicaps, and be mentally retarded, or die before reaching the age of 5?

Are you ready to finance a teenage single mother and support her with good jobs in order to facilitate raising a child by herself? If not, how dare you condemn abortion?

There are people who base their position on religious or ideological grounds.  There are people who are against abortion 100%, regardless of situations and conditions.  There are people who support abortion 100% regardless of situations and conditions.

For the first extremist group, a newborn is worth as much as any fetus. For the second group, a newborn is worth thousands of fetuses. Rational people can select a range in between the two ends:  They can select how much a newborn is worth of fetuses.

Suppose that you say: “A newborn is worth one hundred fetuses”. Currently, the US society is witnessing 1.5 million abortions per year. Consequently, a simple math would result is the equivalent loss of agreed upon 15, 000 casualties in collateral damage.  This is about the number of people who die in homicides cases in the US every year.

Before legalized abortion, a single mother had to find $500 and a back alley for the abortion: The fetus was lost, the mother died, or suffered long-lasting trauma due to pain, indignity, humiliation, and culpability. After legalized abortion, a single woman has to pay $100 and enjoy an accredited hospital.  The additional benefit is a facility to attend to social and psychological counseling before deciding on any abortion.  Isn’t legalized abortion a qualitative jump to quality of life to “the living”?

Steven Levitt and Stephen Dubner in “FreakOnomics” demonstrated that two-third in the steady decline in the rate of violent crimes in the last two decades can be attributed to mother enjoying the legal right for abortion.  The unwanted children who were not born, and the pool of potential troublemakers were not in the street to indulge in criminal activities! More on that issue in a follow-up article.

On Jan. 22, 1973, the US Supreme Court’s ruling in Roe vs Wade legalized abortion. Justice Harry Blackmun wrote the majority opinion:

“The detriment that the State would impose upon the pregnant woman, by denying this choice altogether, is apparent…Maternity, or additional offspring, may force upon the woman a distressful life and future.  Psychological harm may be imminent. Mental and physical health may be taxed by child care.  There is also the distress, for all concerned, associated with the unwanted child, and there is the problem of bringing a child into a family already unable, psychologically and otherwise, to care for it.”

A mother was given the opportunity to make her own mind and decide on the abortion alternative.  She does a good job of figuring out if she is ready, willing, and in a position to raise the baby well, within acceptable standards of quality of life.

What is your position on legalized abortion?

Note: Article inspired by “FreakOnomics” of Steven Levitt and Stephen Dubner