Abortion and Crime

From The Economist.

A famous study suggests that legalized abortion has been responsible for the otherwise mysterious drop in crime we have seen over the past few decades.

The study has been challenged; as with any science, and especially social science, that has obvious political implications, you cannot trust it.

But it seems plausible enough that it would be so.

This does not amount, however, to a justification of abortion.

If it were, it would also justify eliminating poverty by killing the poor.

What it should do it alert us to more compassion for those who fall afoul of the legal system. They are usually not the real criminals, but desperate young men.

The real criminals are rarely punished.

And the better way to reduce crime is to do something about dysfunctional parenting.