All 50 Uses of
abortion
in
Freakonomics
- All she had wanted was an abortion.†
p. 3.9 *abortion = intentionally ending a pregnancy
- But in Texas, as in all but a few states at that time, abortion was illegal.†
p. 4.0
- They made her the lead plaintiff in a class-action lawsuit seeking to legalize abortion.†
p. 4.1
- On January 22, 1973, the court ruled in favor of Ms. Roe, allowing legalized abortion throughout the United States.†
p. 4.3
- By this time, of course, it was far too late for Ms. McCorvey/Roe to have her abortion.†
p. 4.3
- Years later she would renounce her allegiance to legalized abortion and become a pro-life activist.†
p. 4.4
- And the millions of women most likely to have an abortion in the wake of Roe 1, Wade—poor, unmarried, and teenage mothers for whom illegal abortions had been too expensive or too hard to get—were often models of adversity.†
p. 4.6
- And the millions of women most likely to have an abortion in the wake of Roe 1, Wade—poor, unmarried, and teenage mothers for whom illegal abortions had been too expensive or too hard to get—were often models of adversity.†
p. 4.7abortions = ending of pregnancies
- Now, as the crime-drop experts (the former crime doomsayers) spun their theories to the media, how many times did they cite legalized abortion as a cause?†
p. 5.1abortion = intentionally ending a pregnancy
- This isn't a book about the cost of chewing gum versus campaign spending per se, or about disingenuous real-estate agents, or the impact of legalized abortion on crime.†
p. 11.3
- In 1966, one year after Nicolae Ceausescu became the Communist dictator of Romania, he made abortion illegal.†
p. 115.1
- Ceauescu's ban on abortion was designed to achieve one of his major aims: to rapidly strengthen Romania by boosting its population.†
p. 116.2
- Until 1966, Romania had had one of the most liberal abortion policies in the world.†
p. 116.3
- Abortion was in fact the main form of birth control, with four abortions for every live birth.†
p. 116.3
- Abortion was in fact the main form of birth control, with four abortions for every live birth.†
p. 116.3abortions = ending of pregnancies
- Now, virtually overnight, abortion was forbidden.†
p. 116.3abortion = intentionally ending a pregnancy
- Within one year of the abortion ban, the Romanian birth rate had doubled.†
p. 116.6
- Compared to Romanian children born just a year earlier, the cohort of children born after the abortion ban would do worse in every measurable way: they would test lower in school, they would have less success in the labor market, and they would also prove much more likely to become criminals.†
p. 116.8
- The abortion ban stayed in effect until Ceausescu finally lost his grip on Romania.†
p. 116.9
- It should not be overlooked that his demise was precipitated in large measure by the youth of Romania—a great number of whom, were it not for his abortion ban, would never have been born at all.†
p. 117.7
- The story of abortion in Romania might seem an odd way to begin telling the story of American crime in the 1990s.†
p. 117.7
- In one important way, the Romanian abortion story is a reverse image of the American crime story.†
p. 117.8
- The point of overlap was on that Christmas Day of 1989, when Nicolae Ceausescu learned the hard way—with a bullet to the head—that his abortion ban had much deeper implications than he knew.†
p. 117.9
- Suddenly and without warning, Nicolae Ceausescu declared abortion illegal.†
p. 136.7
- The children born in the wake of the abortion ban were much more likely to become criminals than children born earlier.†
p. 136.7
- In most of these cases, abortion was not forbidden outright, but a woman had to receive permission from a judge in order to obtain one.†
p. 136.8
- Researchers found that in the instances where the woman was denied an abortion, she often resented her baby and failed to provide it with a good home.†
p. 136.9
- The United States, meanwhile, has had a different abortion history than Europe.†
p. 137.1
- In the early days of the nation, it was permissible to have an abortion prior to "quickening"—that is, when the first movements of the fetus could be felt, usually around the sixteenth to eighteenth week of pregnancy.†
p. 137.2
- In 1828, New York became the first state to restrict abortion; by 1900 it had been made illegal throughout the country.†
p. 137.3
- Abortion in the twentieth century was often dangerous and usually expensive.†
p. 137.3
- Fewer poor women, therefore, had abortions.†
p. 137.4abortions = ending of pregnancies
- In the late 1960s, several states began to allow abortion under extreme circumstances: rape, incest, or danger to the mother.†
p. 137.5abortion = intentionally ending a pregnancy
- By 1970 five states had made abortion entirely legal and broadly available: New York, California, Washington, Alaska, and Hawaii.†
p. 137.5
- On January 22, 1973, legalized abortion was suddenly extended to the entire country with the U.S. Supreme Court's ruling in Roe v. Wade.†
p. 137.6
- In the first year after Roe v. Wade, some 750,000 women had abortions in the United States (representing one abortion for every 4 live births).†
p. 138.4abortions = ending of pregnancies
- In the first year after Roe v. Wade, some 750,000 women had abortions in the United States (representing one abortion for every 4 live births).†
p. 138.4abortion = intentionally ending a pregnancy
- By 1980 the number of abortions reached 1.6 million (one for every 2.25 live births), where it leveled off.†
p. 138.5abortions = ending of pregnancies
- In a country of 225 million people, 1.6 million abortions per year—one for every 140 Americans—may not have seemed so dramatic.†
p. 138.5
- In the first year after Nicolae Ceausescu's death, when abortion was reinstated in Romania, there was one abortion for every twenty-two Romanians.†
p. 138.6abortion = intentionally ending a pregnancy
- In the first year after Nicolae Ceausescu's death, when abortion was reinstated in Romania, there was one abortion for every twenty-two Romanians.†
p. 138.6
- Before Roe v. Wade, it was predominantly the daughters of middle —or upper-class families who could arrange and afford a safe illegal abortion.†
p. 138.8
- Now, instead of an illegal procedure that might cost $500, any woman could easily obtain an abortion, often for less than $100.†
p. 138.8
- One study has shown that the typical child who went unborn in the earliest years of legalized abortion would have been 50 percent more likely than average to live in poverty; he would have also been 60 percent more likely to grow up with just one parent.†
p. 139.0
- In other words, the very factors that drove millions of American women to have an abortion also seemed to predict that their children, had they been born, would have led unhappy and possibly criminal lives.†
p. 139.4
- To be sure, the legalization of abortion in the United States had myriad consequences.†
p. 139.5
- Conceptions rose by nearly 30 percent, but births actually fell by 6 percent, indicating that many women were using abortion as a method of birth control, a crude and drastic sort of insurance policy.†
p. 139.7
- Perhaps the most dramatic effect of legalized abortion, however, and one that would take years to reveal itself, was its impact on crime.†
p. 139.7
- Legalized abortion led to less unwantedness; unwantedness leads to high crime; legalized abortion, therefore, led to less crime.†
p. 140.1
- Legalized abortion led to less unwantedness; unwantedness leads to high crime; legalized abortion, therefore, led to less crime.†
p. 140.1
Definition:
intentional ending of pregnancy with medical assistance by removing the fetus or embryo from the body before it is able to survive
A spontaneous abortion (more commonly called a miscarriage) is an abortion that happens without medical assistance or intent