Abortion: Crime Link, Genius Sacrificed?

Re “Does Abortion Lessen Crime--and Genius?” Commentary, April 25: The Harvard study John Whitehead writes about concludes there’s a link between the declining crime rate and the 1973 Roe vs. Wade decision, i.e., progressively fewer crimes over the past 28 years. However, before speculating on how many geniuses have been aborted, as Whitehead does, he should offer proof as to a declining genius rate, i.e., progressively fewer geniuses over the past 28 years. Obviously, he’s got a problem there--and so he even admits that such benefits as society may have lost because of abortion is “what we’ll never know.”

Whitehead tells us, “We should create a reality in which all children are wanted and cared for.” Of course we should. But who’s going to pay for it? Certainly not the conservatives. And neither, I would suggest, will the liberals or those in between.

LES ZADOR

Los Angeles

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I agree with Whitehead that even if a study conclusively links legalized abortion to a drop in crime, that is not a reason to support abortion. It is immoral to promote abortion simply as a crime-prevention tool. But it is also immoral to outlaw abortion and not allow parents who don’t want a child to prevent that child’s birth. In a nation where 20% of the children live in poverty, and in a state with an abysmal foster care system, an unwanted child is at great risk.

Of course there are exceptions, as Whitehead points out. Abandonment by one’s birth parents does not doom every child to abuse or prison. But is the harm that befalls most unwanted children worth the exceptions, worth a Charlie Chaplin? I think not.

ALEXI SALDAMANDO

Santa Monica