Abortion and Crime

In the chapter “Where Have All the Criminals Gone?” , Freakonomics’ authors Levitt and Dubner discuss the crime rate in the 1990’s in America and try to find out what caused the crime-drop. They mention that other sources credited the drop to innovative policing strategies, changes in drug markets, tougher gun laws, and a strong economy, among other things. Dubner and Levitt rule out a majority of the reasons other sources said caused the crime-drop.

            Dubner and Levitt then raise an interesting topic, when they consider abortion as the main cause of the crime-drop. The authors allude to Romania’s 1960’s dictator prohibiting abortion, saying that it allowed the birth of unwanted children which may have led to more criminals and Nicolae Ceausescu being dethroned. Once Roe v Wade ruled abortion legal in the United States in 1973, women were able to avoid giving birth and raising unwanted children. The authors say that unwanted children tend to grow up in houses with only one parent or in other bad situations. With to-be mothers having abortions, these babies that would probably grow up to be criminals weren’t being born.

            Abortion is one of if not the most controversial topics discussed in Freakonomics. Peoples’ views on abortion are always center stage; a prime example would be during elections. Campaign advertisements today tend to make the opponent look worse rather than promoting his/her self, and the most common commercials involve the candidate’s views on abortion and Roe v Wade.

            After reading Freakonomics, I agree with Levitt and Dubner that the statistics on abortion directly correlate to the crime-drop in the 90’s. However, I think that many other factors like the ones I mentioned earlier also played a role in the drop. I believe that it is very controversial to site only one reason as the cause to such a complex problem.