Catastrophic Crime Increase Possible
Both John McCain & Sarah Palin have stated that if elected, they will do what they can to have Roe vs Wade overtuned. Since 1993, the crime rate, along with teen pregnancies, abortions, and school dropout rates, has been falling. If McCain and Palin are elected, and are successful in overturning Roe vs Wade, there will be a dramatic rise in those rates in ‘red states’ that are successful in outlawing abortions.
I believe the reason the crime rate began to fall was because a significant number of the women(who would have been unable to get abortions prior to Roe vs Wade) terminated their pregnacies because they had accidentally become pregnant while they were intoxicated, and did not even realize that they were pregnant at the time, so that they kept drinking for several weeks until they realized that they were pregnant. Since it became widely known in 1973(as a result of a study of FAS by Jones and Smith), that the consumption of alcohol while pregnant could lead to their babies being born with FAS, many chose to have an abortion(became legal also in 1973), rather than give birth to a FAS afflicted child.
The following is a quote that explains why FAS/FAE is a problem with such devastating consequences. “‘The girls get knocked up and the boys get locked up.’” They are followers, easily misled, with little or no appreciation of consequences. Without intervention, many ride the justice system merry-go-round or become ‘homeless street people’. They are required to compete in society, but have been denied the tools to do so.” Source: FASLink.org
In order to fully understand the insidious nature of the labyrinthe of problems we all face as a result of Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorders(FASD), there are some critical distinctions that need to be emphasized. As previously stated, the symptoms for these conditions run the gamut from the very severely retarded with distinct facial characteristics(FAS), to those afflicted with what are known as Fetal Alcohol Effects(FAE) whose facial features and IQ’s are indistinguishable from the average child, and so many of these children go undiagnosed, so they are not given the treatment they need to help them lead a normal and crime free life.
Because FAE afflicted people are easily influenced and misled, many wind up being talked into committing crimes that land them in prison. There are four other behavioral characteristics of FAE afflicted people that I feel makes them especially vulnerable to falling into a life of crime: a susceptibility to drug and alcohol abuse, poor judgment, vulnerable to manipulation and victimization and the inability to express empathy for others without being prompted to do so.
I believe all these behavioral problems resulting from FAS/FAE, led to a ‘cycle of poverty’ that developed here in the U.S., that ultimately led to more FAS/FAE babies and the U.S. crime rate being higher than that of other industrialized nations. Since abortion was legalized in 1973, and the U.S. crime and teen pregnacy rates began to fall in 1993, we have begun to reverse that trend toward higher crime and FAS/FAE afflicted babies. But if McCain and Palin are elected, and are successful at overturning Roe vs Wade, those rates will again begin to rise, resulting in a ‘Crime Rate Crisis’ of EPIC PROPORTIONS!!!