DID ROE v. WADE CAUSE ILLEGITIMACY?
David R. Usher June 23, 2007 NewsWithViews.com John R. Lotts Wall Street Journal article, titled It’s Not Enough to Be ‘Wanted’,[1] imperfectly points out the essential dynamics underlying how Roe v. Wade led to rampant illegitimacy. But, this is only a rest stop half-way to Peoria. Briefly, Lott explains how Roe may have led to lax attitudes towards premarital sex by women, who upon getting pregnant out of wedlock, had choices to keep or abort the baby. In Lott’s theory, women who once married or put the baby up for adoption now had other options: abortion or single motherhood. Lott’s analysis is fatally flawed because he does not incorporate the controlling role of contraceptives in sexual behavior or explain its impact on marriage, abortion, and illegitimacy.
