Stephen Dubner

Maybe you were raped.

So there's a lot.

And there is a body of social science research that argues unquestionably

that when a child is born into a wanted situation, let's call it, whatever the family is.

Yeah, planned.

Well, not even planned necessarily.

That's true.

Because honestly, I'm the eighth of eight.

I don't know how planned I was, but I was very loved.

On my birthday, all my older sisters write about the day I came home from the hospital and how happy they were to have a new baby boy.

Yeah, I mean, I have four if you need one.

Older sisters are great.

Anyway, wantedness is good.

Unwantedness is bad.

The odds are if a baby is born into a home where that baby is not wanted, there is a higher chance that that kid will have a bad outcome in life.

When I say bad outcome, meaning lower education, higher crime, lower income, etc.

This is...

inarguable.

So the argument from Steve Levin, John Donahue was that the legalization of abortion provided a way to reduce unwantedness.

And if therefore you reduce unwantedness, what is one of the many other effects you might have down the road?