Why would the Sunday Tribune herald as the prime headline on Page 1 that abortions have reduced the crime rate, based on a study not accepted by any scientific journal, while it buries legitimate front page stories deep in the bowels of the paper. The report on human behavior, written by an economist and lawyer, alleges unwanted children of “teenage, poor and minority women–were aborted at disproportionately high rates more than two decades ago” and “eliminated many of the potential criminals of the 1990s.”
The minorities and poor should be outraged at such a conclusion. But ignoring the racial implications of this report, what are they actually saying? The study was made “to discover the forces responsible for reducing crime” and “to avoid needless public spending on ineffective programs. . . .” We know that fewer than 1 percent of the population are criminals. Assuming that the conclusion of the report is true, that poor and minority children are more prone to be criminals, let’s say they are two or even three times more prone toward criminal behavior than other children. That would mean out of every 100 births terminated, we could have as many as 3 fewer criminals on the streets.
We also know that more than 50 percent of criminals released from prison go on to commit further crimes. If we were to kill all convicted criminals, for every two killed, we would be rid of at least one more criminal on the streets. Those odds are tremendously better than the odds for killing babies to reduce the number of potential criminals.
