ovided to explain the decline in homicide. McCaghy, et al. cite the work of Donohoe and Levitt (127), who say that legalized abortion has reduced crime in general and abortion in particular. That makes sense if one accepts the idea that fewer unwanted pregnancies and babies prevent murders since most murders "are committed by persons acquainted with their victims" (128). Wanted children are also more likely to have positive family experiences and not grow up in poverty, with chaotic parental arrangements, such as unemployed single mothers, and chaotic social arrangements that are implied by the birth of unwanted babies. In that way cultural and economic explanations of the homicide rate seem to merge.
The abortion explanation is bound to give support to those who view women's reproductive rights as a social good. Despite that, there is one weakne
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