 Re: Decreasing the Need for Abortion
Can the pro-life brigade use their near-terrorist methods to restrict the demand for abortion? It is an important question as, assuming rationality, their motivation should be about reducing the demand for abortions. The evidence is not supportive. Medoff (2003, The impact of anti-abortion activities on state abortion rates, Journal of Socioeconomics, Vol 32, pp 265-282), for example, writes:
Using 1992 data from the 50 U.S. states, the empirical results find that anti-abortion harassment activities (picketing, picketing with contact, vandalism, bomb threats, and stalking) did not significantly reduce the demand for abortion within a state nor did they cause a change in the location of the abortion procedure.
The continued failure of the pro-life movement to target abortion demand describes clearly that their morality coercion techniques are inconsistent with a rational anti-abortion strategy.
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