Economist Expands on Explanation That Abortion Didn't Lower Crime Numbers
by Paul Nowak
Washington, DC (LifeNews.com) -- A recent editorial by John Lott, Jr. for Fox News highlights the social fallout that followed Roe V. Wade, dispelling the myth that abortion was merely a woman's issue of which the effects were limited to the women that chose it. Lott explores the studies that have contended that legalized abortion have reduced violent crime in America, notably one done by economists John Donohue and Steven Levitt, published in 2001 in the Quarterly Journal of Economics. Donohue and Levitt's study claimed that the dramatic reduction in violent crime between 1991 and 2000 was due to the reduced number of "unwanted" children, a phenomena caused by the legality of abortion a generation earlier. However, Lott cites several sources that disagree with Donohue and Levitt's study, and have found holes in their theories. For instance, when crime statistics are analyzed by age group, the greatest drop in violent crime between 1991-2000 was in the 26 and older demographic – those born before Roe v. Wade, not those born after of which fewer were "unwanted." The social ills of which legalized abortion has had a negative impact include an increase in out-of-wedlock births, reduced numbers of children put up for adoption, an increase in pre-marital sex, and a decrease in the number of "shotgun marriages" that take place after a woman gets pregnant. These have all created a sharp increase in single-parent households in the years following the legalization of abortion. "Even if abortion did lower crime by culling out "unwanted" children (a conclusion derived from flawed statistics), this effect would be greatly outweighed by the rise in crime associated with the greater incidence of single-parent families that also follows from abortion liberalization," concludes Lott. "In short, more abortions have brought more crime."

Barack Obama’s Catholic Outreach Head Won’t Appear on Catholic Show
Detroit, MI (LifeNews.com) -- Barack Obama’s campaign wants to reach out to Catholic voters even though he strongly supports abortion, yet his Catholic outreach director refused to appear on a popular radio program. Mark Linton, director of Catholic Outreach for the Obama Campaign, declined an appearance on the Al Kresta radio show. Kresta, one of the popular hosts on the Ave Maria Radio Network hoped to invite Linton along with Deal Hudson, a prominent Catholic writer who has written numerous article discussing Obama‘s pro-abortion position. Commenting on the refusal, Nick Thomm, the producer for Kresta’s show, explained to CNA, “[Linton] is the National Catholic outreach guy and he disagrees with Deal Hudson over the facts surrounding Obama’s record on abortion. So we figured we'd have them both on the show to hash it out.” Linton responded to Hudson’s articles on July 4 with an email criticizing him and soft-peddling Obama’s position. After repeated efforts to get Linton on the show, Thomm explained that when he called Obama’s senate office he told the Obama staffer, “we have no choice but to think that he’s trying dodge us. He’s supposed to be a National Catholic Outreach coordinator and we're a Catholic radio show, so who’s he doing outreach to?” He added: “We never heard back from him and so we just went ahead and did the show without him.”

Teen Pregnancies Increase for the First Time After 15 Years of Declines
Washington, DC (LifeNews.com) -- The number of teen pregnancies rose last year for the first time in 15 years, according to the National Institutes of Health. The new numbers follow the decisions of several states over the last couple of years to refuse the federal abstinence education funding the government sends to states. The number also follow new figures in January showing the number of abortions declining to their lowest levels since the year after Roe v. Wade as more teenagers keep their babies or give them up for adoptions than kill them in abortions. The report also comes after a spate of high-profile teen pregnancies: that of 17-year-old TV star Jamie Lynn Spears, who recently gave birth to a daughter, as well as the pregnancies of numerous students at Gloucester High School in Massachusetts. Federal health experts said they don't know why the teen pregnancy numbers went up from 2005 to 2006, and that not enough data have been collected to say whether it's a trend. Pregnant teens aged 15 to 19 are less likely to get prenatal care and gain appropriate weight, experts say. They are also more likely smoke than pregnant women aged 20 years or older. Teen pregnancy is "one of the key indicators for the health of the teen population because it not only reflects their health at this point, but it reflects their health and well-being for the next 20 to 40 years," Sondik said.

Canadian Post-Abortion Group Talks About How Abortion Hurts Women
Ottawa, Canada (LifeNews.com) -- The leader of a Canadian post-abortion group recently talked about the way abortion adversely affects women and how the organization has seen these problems firsthand. Denise Mountenay is the founder and president of Canada Silent No More. Her group is collecting declarations from women hurt and injured by legal abortion for possible lawsuits against abortion practitioner irreparable damages and for failure to provide "informed consent" on all of the risk factors. "Approximately 10% of women suffer immediate complications, of which about 2% are life threatening. We get calls from women injured physically and emotionally and who suffer in silence and grieve," Mountenay points out. "Not only that but, research confirms that women who abort are six times more likely to commit or attempt suicide afterwards. Women who abort are also more likely to turn to substance abuse and self destructive behavior." Unfortunately, she says women are usually never told about these possible complications. "We were never told about the mountain of studies linking Breast Cancer to induced abortion since 1957. We were never informed that induced legal abortion would cause deep sorrow, remorse and guilt. We weren't told it could cause depression, suicidal thoughts, self-loathing, sleeping, eating and anxiety disorders, that some of us would have irreversible cervical and uterine damage and scarring," she explained.

San Jose Planned Parenthood Spends More Against Parental Notification
Sacramento, CA (LifeNews.com) -- The San Jose Planned Parenthood affiliate, which has already spent $700,000 against a November ballot initiative that would allow parental notification on abortion, is sinking another $300,000 into the campaign against it. In total, the central California abortion business has spent over $1 million against the measure to help parents know when their minor daughter is having an abortion. Proposition 4 is the third time pro-life advocates have tried to get the measure approved after two proposals failed in previous votes. Last month, Planned Parenthood Mar Monte sent the so-called Campaign for Teen Safety $700,000 to defeat the proposition. Buu Thai, director of public affairs for the group, told the California political web site Politicker that preventing parents from knowing when their teenagers are having a relatively risky surgical or drug-induced abortion promotes their health. "It's critical that teens have safe healthcare options," Thai said. "This is what our campaign against the initiative will be about." Thai told the web site at that time that more six figure donations are forthcoming as Planned Parenthood begins to roll out a massive media campaign to blast the common sense measure. "This particular donation will be just the first of several as we get closer to November," Thai admitted. In June, the California Secretary of State validated Sarah's Law, the latest version of the parental notification initiative, for the November 4 ballot. Proponents submitted more than 1.2 million signatures on petitions seeking a third vote on adult involvement in minors' abortions, after Propositions 73 and 85 were narrowly defeated in 2005 and 2006.

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