michael new promises unkept

Promises Unkept:

How 40 Years of Legal Abortion Has Failed To Lower Crime, Child Abuse, and Out of Wedlock Births

Michael J. New, Ph.D.@Michael_J_New

University of Michigan -- DearbornAdjunct Scholar, Charlotte Lozier Institute

Media Summit, December 4th, 2012

Types of Presentations


1) FunPresented at Press Conferences



2) SeriousPresented in Washington, DC



2) SeriousPresented in Washington, DC

3) Fun and SeriousPresented at Press Conferences in Washington, DC

Quotes from Abortion Proponents

• “A policy that makes contraception and abortion freely available will greatly reduce the number of unwanted children, and thereby curb the tragic rise of child abuse in our country.” (NARAL, 1978)

• “The impact of the abortion revolution may be too vast to assess immediately. It should usher in an era when every child will be wanted, loved, and properly cared for.”

(NARAL Founder Larry Lader, 1974)

Presentation Outline

1) How Abortion Failed To Lower Out Of Wedlock Birthrates

2) How Abortion Failed to Lower Child Abuse

3) How Abortion Failed to Lower Crime

1) How Abortion Failed To Lower Out of Wedlock Birthrates

• Argument made by abortion proponents was clear

• Legal abortion would grant sexually active single women the ability to terminate their pregnancies.

• Hence fewer out of wedlock births


• However, it did not work out that way…– Abortion changed sexual mores– People became more likely to engage in premarital sex– People became less careful about using contraception– Taboos regarding sex before marriage weakened– Conceptions increased by 30 percent



– A higher percentage of these conceptions were aborted



– A higher percentage of these conceptions were aborted• But the out of wedlock birthrate continued to climb…

2) How Abortion Failed To Lower Child Abuse

• Argument made by abortion proponents was again clear

• ‘Wanted’ children would be less likely to be abused than ‘unwanted children’


• However, it did not work out that way– A high percentage of child abuse occurs against

‘wanted children’ (Lenoski 1973)– Abortion did not reduce the out of wedlock

birthrate–Women who obtain abortions are more likely to

abuse their own children (Coleman 2005)


There are psychological reasons why abortion might lead to more child abuse (Ney)

1) Abortion decreases an individual's instinctual restraint against the occasional rage felt toward those dependent on his or her care.

2) Permissive abortion diminishes the taboo against aggressing [against] the defenseless.

3) Abortion increases the hostility between the generations.

4) Abortion has devalued children, thus diminishing the value of caring for children.

5) Abortion increases guilt and self-hatred, which the parent takes out on the child.

6) Abortion increases hostile frustration, intensifying the battle of the sexes, for which children are scapegoated.

7) Abortion cuts the developing mother-infant bond, thereby diminishing her future mothering capability.


Since 1973 child abuse has increased by over 1,000 percent in the United States-- U.S. National Center on Child Abuse and Neglect

Between 1973 and 1990 deaths due to child abuse increased by 400 percent-- U.S. Statistical Abstract


• THE INCREASE OF CHILD ABUSE IN THE UNITED STATES, 1972-1990• Reported Reported Abuse Cases Rate Increase

Deaths Due Cases Per 1,000 Over PreviousYear to Abuse of Abuse Population Year

• 1972 356 427,100 2.05 1973 386 452,800 2.16 5%1974 401 480,100 2.26 5%1975 448 509,000 2.38 5%1976 485 537,700 2.48 4%1977 496 572,100 2.61 5%1978 595 606,600 2.73 5%1979 579 707,400 3.16 16%1980 622 785,100 3.46 9%1981 677 846,200 3.70 7%1982 714 924,100 4.01 8%1983 807 1,001,400 4.31 7%1984 820 1,255,600 5.43 26%1985 899 1,499,400 6.50 20%1986 1,181 1,673,400 7.28 12%1987 1,163 2,025,200 8.43 16%1988 1,225 2,298,100 9.62 14%1989 1,332 2,607,800 10.42 8%1990 1,448 2,959,100 11.59 11%

3) How abortion failed to lower crime

• Argument gained currency with publication of “The Impact of Legalized Abortion on Crime” in The Quarterly Journal of Economics in 2001 (Levitt and Donohue)

• Argument was straightforward

• Legal Abortion lowered population of demographic groups likely to engage in crime

• Abortion rights groups shied away from this argument because of its eugenic implications

• It still gained currency among the general public because of the media coverage and the publication of Levitt’s Freakonomics


• Problems with the Levitt and Donohue argument

• They argued that states that legalized abortion before 1973 (NY, CA, WA) saw an earlier decrease in the crime rate– But a fairly high percentage of people who obtained abortions

in these states came from out of state

• They argued that states with high abortion rates in 1970s and 1980s had bigger crime rates declines– But they failed to account for interstate migration (Many people

are raised in a different state than the one they were born)


• Better criticisms come from those who looked at the demographics of crime (Sailer, Lott, Whitely)

• If Donohue and Levitt are correct, young people should be less likely to commit crimes

• However, crime data shows the exact opposite, people born after Roe v. Wade became more likely to commit crimes

Conclusion

• No empirical evidence that legal abortion has benefitted society as a whole\

– Abortion has failed to reduce out of wedlock births

– Abortion has failed to reduce child abuse

– Abortion has failed to reduce crime

michael new promises unkept

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