Two prominent researchers have told STOPP International's national director, Ed Szymkowiak,
that a recent study -- purporting to show that abortion causes a drop in crime -- is simply not supported by the facts.
The study, "The Impact of Abortion on Crime," by John Donohue and Steve Levitt, was published in the May 2001 issue of
the Quarterly Journal of Economics. Szymkowiak recently completed a STOPP analysis of the study.
In his report, Szymkowiak noted that Ted Joyce, Ph.D., of the National Bureau of Economic Research, has released a counter study, using
the same data, which shows that Donohue and Levitt are wrong. Joyce found no causal effect of abortion on crime. He will
present his findings at the November meeting of the American Society of Criminology.
Szymkowiak also spoke with Carnegie-Mellon Professor Alfred Blumstein, director of the National Consortium on Violence
Research. "Blumstein told me that Donohue and Levitt are 'off the wall' with their claim that abortion accounts for 50 percent of
the crime drop in the 1990s," he said.
Blumstein has edited a new book, Crime Drop in America, in which several experts point to such factors as prison expansion
and the waning of the crack epidemic as the real reasons for the crime drop.
Release issued: 30 May 01
