Roe effect - Definition

The Roe effect is a theory of how the court case Roe v. Wade, which legalized abortion nationwide in the United States, affected the political leanings of Americans. The simple version states that, since those who favor abortion are much more likely to get one than those who oppose abortion, and since children often follow their parents' political leanings, that support for legal abortion will decline over time, simply because pro-abortion parents will have fewer children than they might otherwise have had. In addition, people tend to associate their views with political parties. In some cases, this can result in people's views being subtly changed to correspond with those of their parties. Therefore, conservative parties, such as the Republican Party, which oppose abortion, could gain power over time. James Taranto of the Wall Street Journal named this theory and has discussed it extensively in his Opinionjournal.com column "Best of the Web Today." He cites statistics to support his case, like some that show that more present college-age students (mostly born after abortion's legalization) oppose abortion now than in earlier years.

However, since other studies have shown that women who have abortions are not more likely to remain childless than those who oppose abortions (since most people who choose to have abortions wish to wait until they can best support children, rather than wishing to remain childess for their entire lives) this effect seems very unlikely to happen.

See also

• Legalized abortion and crime effect