Abortion Quote by Steven D. Levitt
““Perhaps the most dramatic effect of legalized abortion, however, and one that would take years to reveal itself, was its impact on crime. In the early 1990s, just as the first cohort of children born after Roe v. Wade was hitting its late teen years—the years during which young men enter their criminal prime—the rate of crime began to fall. What this cohort was missing, of course, were the children who stood the greatest chance of becoming criminals. And the crime rate continued to fall as an entire generation came of age minus the children whose mothers had not wanted to bring a child into the world. Legalized abortion led to less unwantedness; unwantedness leads to high crime; legalized abortion, therefore, led to less crime.””
About This Quote
Source Paper: “Abortion and Crime: Evidence from the United States”, Quarterly Journal of Economics, 2001
Legalized abortion reduced unwanted births, which statistically lowers crime rates as fewer at‑risk children enter the population.
In simple terms: Abortion reduces unwanted births, which lowers crime.
Key Takeaway
Consider broader social impacts of reproductive policies.
Themes
public policy
crime
abortion
demographics
social outcomes
Mood
controversial
analytical
informative
Type
scholarly
critical
When to use this quote
- policy making
- criminal justice reform
- public health planning
- social services budgeting
Key Concepts
econometrics
causal inference
population studies
Questions to Reflect On
- What other factors could explain the crime decline?
- How robust are the statistical methods used?
A Different Perspective
Causal link is debated and may involve other variables.
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