Abortion’s price

Is money the answer to every question?

Well, yeah, probably.

Back in 2005, the bestselling book "Freakonomics" contained a chapter about abortion featuring a study by economists that claimed that legalized abortion reduced crime.

I know that seems obvious — if abortion isn’t a crime anymore, there are fewer crimes. Duh!

But, no, the economists meant all kinds of crime. In 2020, the economists published an update that noted that from 1991 to 2014 “legalized abortion is estimated to have reduced violent crime by 47% and property crime by 33%.”

No matter how you feel about abortion, you have to admit that must be an economic plus — fewer losses to criminals and less money spent on law enforcement, prosecutions, prisons, rehab, etc.

Right? Right?

Well, as with everything else in politics, money is in the eye of the beholder.

The Florida Supreme Court recently ruled that something called the Financial Impact Estimating Conference had the authority to issue a financial impact statement about a proposed constitutional amendment protecting abortion rights.

The statement was a bit vague but it definitely implied that abortions would cost the state and local governments money because, among other things, they might have to subsidize abortions and spend money on lawsuits. There’s no mention of subsidizing unwanted births or medical costs for women who had to delay treatment. But let’s not get picky.

There’s also a line about how the proposed amendment could invalidate laws “ensuring only licensed physicians perform abortions.” This may come as a surprise to the people who wrote the ballot proposal and I have no idea what it has to do with state revenue. Lower taxes on cheap abortions?

Finally, after saying that an “increase in abortions may negatively affect the growth of state and local revenues over time,” the statement ends with “the total impact of the proposed amendment is indeterminate.”

Well, that’s helpful.

If you haven’t read up on this, you may be wondering about the experts who drafted the statement. The “principals” of the Estimating Conference include someone from the governor’s office, one staff member from each of the state legislative bodies, and the coordinator of the Office of Economic and Demographic Research (who reportedly wasn’t thrilled with the statement). Make of that what you will.

All of which brings us to my original question: Is money really the answer here? Is there anyone — anyone — going to change their mind about abortion rights because they may or may not cost some money or may or may not save money?

Maybe money isn’t the answer to everything.

War is hell. The following is from a lawsuit filed in Los Angeles Superior Court last week: “The owner of Dogs then proceeded to tell (plaintiff) that the dog attacked her because they are originally from Ukraine and her dog is ‘traumatized’ due to the ongoing war in that region.”

I’m guessing the plaintiff looked Russian.

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