Does abortion lead to a decline in crime rates?
In Freakonomics, Levitt argues that following Roe V Wade, legalizing abortion reduced crime rates. In Freedomonmics, Lott reviews Levitt’s evidence, rejects it, and proposes that legalizing abortion increased crime rates. Lott sued Levitt for libel. anyhow here is a review of the debate http://www.washingtontimes.com/apps/…plate=nextpage Steven D. Levitt’s 2005 pop economics bestseller, “Freakonomics: A Rogue Economist Explores the Hidden Side of Everything,” nd, most famously, the legalization of abortion in the 1970s (it reduced crime in the 1990s by, in effect, pre-emptively executing unwanted babies more likely to become criminals).” Mr. Lott shows that Mr. Levitt’s popular abortion hypothesis fails some simple reality checks. Rather than Roe v. Wade making babies more “wanted,” the illegitimacy rate soared after 1973. And, among those born soon after Roe, their murder rate as 18-year-olds didn’t fall, as Mr. Levitt’s theory would predict; it more than doubled.
