Wednesday August 11, 1999
ALLEGED ABORTION-CRIME LINK CONDEMNED
- Called a "quack thesis" by the Boston Herald -
UNITED STATES, Aug. 11 (LSN) - Critics of the study linking the abortion rate to a drop in crime have come out with their guns blasting, and they have not all been from the ranks of the political right. University of Chicago economist Steven D. Levitt and Stanford University Law professor John J. Donohue III, the authors of the study, appear to have been taken by surprise at the amount of opposition they have faced for what they consider to be a credible piece of work. "We've been stunned by the angry response, particularly from the left," Levitt said Monday, as reported in the Chicago Tribune. "Our intention was solely to understand this puzzling drop in crime. ... This isn't a paper about class or race. This is a paper about being unwanted." Nevertheless, an editorial in the Boston Herald called it "sickening" and a "quack thesis."
In a summary report by Steve Ertelt of the email service Pro-Life Infonet, National Right to Life was quoted, saying: "The conclusions of the study seem bizarre, since in the 90s the drop in the crime rate correlates with the drop in the abortion rate. One could just as easily argue that an increase in the respect for human life has led to a decrease in both the abortion rate and the crime rate. The true effects of the over 40 million lives lost since 1973 may never be known." NRTL also drew attention to a few of the many positive things we have lost through abortion including "future artists, scientists, musicians and teachers."
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