The abortion claim was pretty well backed up by numbers; crime declines began earlier in states that legalized earlier, and crime fell by less in states where fewer providers existed. Moreover, the theory behind it makes perfect sense: higher capital investment (be it time or money) in children tends to lead to better life-outcomes; children who would otherwise have been aborted receive lower capital investment, either because their parents aren’t ready for them financially, or because their parents don’t like them as much.
I find their claim extremely dubious—abortion availability correlates with too many political and demographic variables for tests like that to work, and worldwide there seems to be no relation between abortion availability and crime at all.
The abortion claim was pretty well backed up by numbers; crime declines began earlier in states that legalized earlier, and crime fell by less in states where fewer providers existed. Moreover, the theory behind it makes perfect sense: higher capital investment (be it time or money) in children tends to lead to better life-outcomes; children who would otherwise have been aborted receive lower capital investment, either because their parents aren’t ready for them financially, or because their parents don’t like them as much.
I find their claim extremely dubious—abortion availability correlates with too many political and demographic variables for tests like that to work, and worldwide there seems to be no relation between abortion availability and crime at all.