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Educational Technologists in the Hands of Angry Correlates Alexandra Dolan University of Florida
Pearson, Galton, and Equations: ! Wright (1921) Correlation is a quantitative measure of the relationship between two or more variables (p. 557). Galtons correlation coefficient, r or Pearsons correlation ratio are the standard means of expressing correlation (Wright, 1921, p. 557). Galtons coefficient of correlation is based on a a linear relationship between variables, wherein a change in variable x is always accompanied by corresponding constant change in variable y (Wright, 1921, p. 557). Mathematically -1 r 1 which means that the correlation coefficient, r, must be greater than -1 (perfect negative correlation) or less than or equal to 1 (perfect positive correlation). An r value of 0 would indicate no correlation existed between two variables (Wright, 1921, pp. 557-558). The correlation coefficient, r is important in regression analysis (Wright, 1921, p. 558). Galtons correlation coefficient and Pearsons correlation ratio are identical if the relationship between variables is exactly linear (Wright, 1921, p. 558). However, Pearsons correlation relation does not require linear relationships between variables (Wright, 1921, p. 558). The correlation ratio is 0 correlation ratio 1. A correlation ratio of 0 indicates no correlation, and a correlation of 1 equals a perfect correlation. ! That variables are correlated, but makes no assumptions into the nature of the relationship between variables (Wright, 1921, p. 559). Wright (1921) notes that most variables connect across more than one path, and the coefficient of correlation is an expression of all the paths that connect the variables (pp. 560-561). When there is a network of causes and effects, the interrelations could be grasped best if a coefficient could be assigned to each path designed to measure the direct influence along it (Wright, 1921, p. 561). Wright (1921) calls this the path coefficient (p. 561). So, just because two or more variables are related, does not mean that one variable causes another, they are merely connected somehow. One must always strive to be rational, and as such never assume correlation when only causation is evidenced. Leaving Logic Behind: ! In the field of education, one often sees many spurious associations which lack any proof or substantial basis. Yet,
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causality is often mistakenly assigned, and taken as gospel. For instance, the gospel of standardized testing, which holds that achievement on standardized testing is a perfect metonymy for authentic achievement. Mistakenly, one believes that by narrowing the curriculum to focus on proficiency in standardized testing, it will open up a world of educational possibilities (Meier & Wood, 2004, p. xiii). The problem with the NCLB Act is that it mistakes measuring schools for fixing them (Meier & Wood, 2004, p. 9). ! Ho (2008) explains that the percentage of proficient students statistics which are so crucial and upon which so much depends is in fact, an illusion: PPS-based trend statistics have little basis for commonality with themselves under different cut scores, let alone with other states. The widespread reporting of PPSbased statistics at the expense of averages impedes not only public understanding of trends and gap trends but also serious education research endeavors. It is certainly reasonable to ask questions about trends at different locations of the distribution. However, PPS-based trends do not address this question appropriately. Changes in percentages at high and low cut scores do not solely reflect trends for high- and low-achieving students but are instead confounded with the weight of examinees near these cut scores (p. 357). In other words, compare and correlate the PPS statistics all day long, and it is meaningless, because the statistics themselves do not mean anything, much less indicate achievement. Ho (2008) finds: Although no proficiency-based statistic is technically incorrect, every proficiency-based statistic is short sighted, offering only a piece of the distribution-wide perspective that the analysis of high-stakes test score distributions requires. The limitations are so severe that trend flipping is a frequent possibility, gap bowing is ubiquitous, and the possibility of gap-trend flipping is near guaranteed. These statistical shortcomings have analogs in policy. Just as trends at proficiency are unlikely to extend to trends elsewhere, the effects of policy on near-proficient students are unlikely to extend to effects on other students" (p. 358).

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So, improving those statistics does not indicate an actual improvement in schools or an authentic improvement in achievement. Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God: Pat Robertson, and Other Disasters ! Haiti had already earned the distinction of being the poorest country in the Western Hemisphere, ranking 149th out of the 182 countries including in the United Nations' Human Development Index (Alleyne & Monahan, 2010; United Nations Human Development Reports, 2009). On January 12, 2010, disaster struck, in the form of a 7.0 magnitude earthquake whose epicenter was located just 14 miles from Port-au-Prince, the capital of Haiti. Why did such a tragedy occur? One might suspect that plate tectonics had something to do with it. ! However, Pat Robertson, speaking on the television show the 700 club, supposed that something much more diabolical was at work as: Something happened a long time ago in Haiti and people might not want to talk about it. They were under the heel of the French, uh you know Napoleon the third and whatever. And they got together and swore a pact to the Devil. They said we will serve you if you'll get us free from the French. True Story. And so the Devil said "OK, it's a deal." And they kicked the French out. You know, the Haitians revolted and got themselves free. But ever since they have been cursed by one thing after the other, desperately poor. That island is Hispaniola is one island. It's cut down the middle. On one side is Haiti, on the other side is the Dominican republic. Dominican Republic is prosperous, healthy, full of resorts, etc.. Haiti is in desperate poverty. Same island. Uh, they need to have, and we need to pray for them, a great turning to God and out of this tragedy. I'm optimistic something good may come (Robertson, 2010, as cited in Scherer, 2010). Click here: [Link] v=S5nraknWoes&feature=player_embedded to see Professor Robertson's scholarly analysis of the situation. ! In 1791 after a voodoo ceremony, African slaves rebelled against French coffee and sugar plantation owners to take control of Haiti, resulting in the only successful slave revolt in history (Than, 2010). That a voodoo ceremony began a successful slave rebellion is what Robertson meant when he
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stated that: "they got together and swore a pact to the Devil" (Robertson, 2010, as cited in Scherer, 2010). ! "Voodoo is not a black magic cult, nor does it have anything to do with a Christian notion of the [Link] he's saying by that comment is that all African religion is devil worship, and he's revealing not only his ignorance about what voodoo really is, but also his bias that any religion not his own is devil worship" contends Anthropologist Wade Davis (as cited in Than, 2010). ! Robertson equates devil worship with voodoo, although the two are only correlated in that they are both different from what Robertsons view of the right religion is. Moreover, the fact that Robertson blames the 2010 Earthquake on his mistaken notions that equate Voodoo with devil worship clearly violates the 'correlation does not equal causation argument' as does his idea that slave revolts in the past can lead to Earthquakes centuries later. ! This is not the first time that Robertson has linked disaster to the Lord's vengeance. In the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina, on September 12, 2005's broadcast of the 700 club, Robertson offered up the following wisdom: You know, it's just amazing, though, that people say the litmus test for [Supreme Court nominee John G.] Roberts [Jr.] is whether or not he supports the wholesale slaughter of unborn children. We have killed over 40 million unborn babies in America. I was reading, yesterday, a book that was very interesting about what God has to say in the Old Testament about those who shed innocent blood. And he used the term that those who do this, "the land will vomit you out." That -- you look at your -- you look at the book of Leviticus and see what it says there. And this author of this said, "well 'vomit out' means you are not able to defend yourself." But have we found we are unable somehow to defend ourselves against some of the attacks that are coming against us, either by terrorists or now by natural disaster? Could they be connected in some way? And he goes down the list of the things that God says will cause a nation to lose its possession, and to be vomited out. And the amazing thing is, a judge has now got to say, "I will support the wholesale slaughter of innocent children" in order to get confirmed to the bench. And I am sure Judge Roberts is not going to say any such thing. But nevertheless, that's the litmus test that's being put on, the very thing that could endanger our nation. And it's

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very interesting. Read the bible, read Leviticus, see what it says there (Robertson, as cited in Media Matters, 2005). Well, there you have it, abortion causes hurricanes and flooding. No proof necessary. ! For Robertson, just about any disaster is indicative of God's wrath for a wide range of sins. On September 13, 2001, the 700 club televised the following exchange between Jerry Falwell and Pat Robertson: JERRY FALWELL: Well, as the world knows, the tragedy hit on Tuesday morning, and at 2:00 in the afternoon, we gathered 7,000 Liberty University students, faculty, local people together, and we used the verse that I heard you use a moment ago, Chronicles II, 7:14, that God wanted us to humble ourselves and seek his face. And there's not much we can do in the Church but what we're supposed to do, and that is pray. Pray for the President that God will give him wisdom, keep bad advisors from him, bring good ones to him, praying for the families of the victims, praying for America. And, you know this thing is not a great deal different than what I remember and you Pat. We're about the same age. December 7, 1941, when we entered the war against Japan, Germany, Italy. Hitler's goal was to destroy the Jews among other things, and conquer the world. And, these Islamic fundamentalists, these radical terrorists, these Middle Eastern monsters are committed to destroying the Jewish nation, driving her into the Mediterranean, conquering the world. And, we are the great Satan. We are the ultimate goal. I talked this morning with Tom Rose publisher of the Jerusalem Post, and orthodox Jew, and he said, "Now America knows in a horrible way what Israel's been facing for 53 years at the hand of Arafat and other terrorists and radicals and barbarians. PAT ROBERTSON: Jerry, I know that you shared several 40 day fasts for revival in America. We here at CBN had a couple of 40 day fasts during the Lenten season, and Bill Bright, I don't know, eight or nine. Do you think that this is going to be the trigger of revival, a real revival in the Church where we truly turn back to God with all our heart? JERRY FALWELL: It could be. I've never sensed a togetherness, a burden, a broken heart as I do in the Church today, and just 48 hours, I gave away a booklet I wrote 10 years ago. I gave it away last night on the Biblical position on fasting and prayer because I do believe that that is what we've got to do now-- fast and
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pray. And I agree totally with you that the Lord has protected us so wonderfully these 225 years. And since 1812, this is the first time that we've been attacked on our soil, first time, and by far the worst results. And I fear, as Donald Rumsfeld, the Secretary of Defense said yesterday, that this is only the beginning. And with biological warfare available to these monsters; the Husseins, the Bin Ladens, the Arafats, what we saw on Tuesday, as terrible as it is, could be miniscule if, in fact, if in fact God continues to lift the curtain and allow the enemies of America to give us probably what we deserve. PAT ROBERTSON: Jerry, that's my feeling. I think we've just seen the antechamber to terror. We haven't even begun to see what they can do to the major population. JERRY FALWELL: The ACLU's got to take a lot of blame for this. PAT ROBERTSON: Well, yes. JERRY FALWELL: And, I know that I'll hear from them for this. But, throwing God out successfully with the help of the federal court system, throwing God out of the public square, out of the schools. The abortionists have got to bear some burden for this because God will not be mocked. And when we destroy 40 million little innocent babies, we make God mad. I really believe that the pagans, and the abortionists, and the feminists, and the gays and the lesbians who are actively trying to make that an alternative lifestyle, the ACLU, People For the American Way, all of them who have tried to secularize America. I point the finger in their face and say 'you helped this happen'. PAT ROBERTSON: Well, I totally concur, and the problem is we have adopted that agenda at the highest levels of our government. And so we're responsible as a free society for what the top people do. And, the top people, of course, is the court system. JERRY FALWELL: Amen. Pat, did you notice yesterday? The ACLU, and all the Christ-haters, the People For the American Way, NOW, etc. were totally disregarded by the Democrats and the Republicans in both houses of Congress as they went out on the steps and called out on to God in prayer and sang 'God Bless America' and said 'let the ACLU be hanged'. In other words, when the nation is on its knees, the only normal and natural and spiritual thing to do is what we ought to be doing all the time- calling upon God (Falwell & Robertson, as cited in Learning, 2001).
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! In summary, according to Robertson and Fallwell, terrorism is correlated with the Lords vengeance, which is caused by the ACLU, the federal court system, separation of church and state, abortion, pagans, feminists, gays, lesbians, People for the American Way, Christ-haters, and NOW. Correlation Does Not Equal Causation. However, the relationship between two variables of Pat Robertson and idiocy exhibits a strong positive correlation, which expresses the sum of all paths that connect the two variables (Wright, 1921, pp. 560-561). One cannot positively determine that one variable is caused by the other, but nonetheless idiocy and Pat Robertson share a connection. Quick! Jim Bob, Show Em Your Quiverfull! ! For anyone who has not heard of the Duggar family, or their reality TV show, the matriarch of the family, Michelle, just gave birth to her and her husband Jim Bobs 19th biological child recently. They are part of the Protestant Quiverfull movement, also known as the biblical patriarchy movement (Bortel & Bortel, 2010). Jim Bob & Michelle Duggar married July 21st, 1984. At that time, they chose to use the birth control pill. They thought, We dont want children right now. We cant afford them. We want children in our timing, when were ready. Four years later they decided to have their first child. Then, Michelle went back on the pill, but she conceived and had a miscarriage. At that point they talked with a Christian medical doctor and read the fine print in the contraceptives package. They found that while taking the pill you can get pregnant and then miscarry. They were grieved! They were Christians! They were pro-life! They realized that their selfish actions had taken the life of their child. They prayed and asked God to forgive them, and to teach them to love children like He loves children. They asked God to bless them with as many children as He saw fit in His timing. Right after that Michelle got pregnant with twins (Duggar & Duggar, 2010). What the Duggars fail to realize is that, even without the pill, one can become pregnant and miscarry. Quiverfull is based on Psalm 127, which states: Behold, children are a heritage from the Lord, The fruit of the womb is a reward.
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Like arrows in the hand of a So are the children of one's Happy is the man who has his (Finan, 2006; Hagerty, 2009; 2010),

warrior, youth. quiver full of them Joyce 2009, Bortel & Bortel,

! The Quiverfull movements philosophy shuns all forms of birth control, even natural family planning like the rhythm method (Finan, 2006; Hagerty 2009; Joyce, 2009, [Link], 2010). Although they do not advocate fertility treatments, oddly enough, vasectomy and tubal ligation reversal is not considered a fertility treatment, and is encouraged (Bortel & Bortel, 2010). ! Men are the head of the household, they are providers. Women are the husbands helpmate, who are tasked with caring for the household and having as many babys as they can in order to demonstrate their obedience to, and trust in, the Lord (Joyce, 2009). The Quiverfull movement rejects the tenets of feminism, instead encouraging women in a submissive role (Joyce, 2009). Daughters of Quiverfulls are also encouraged in this submissive role, and many of the responsibilities for caring for so many children are delegated to them (Joyce, 2009). ! The goal of all this fertility is to give birth to a giant army of Christian soldiers (Joyce, 2009) "Children are our ammunition in the spiritual realm to whip the enemy! These special arrows were handcrafted by the warrior himself and were carefully fashioned to achieve the purpose of annihilating the enemy (Scott, as cited in Joyce, 2009). These full quivers of arrows could allow conservative Christians to regain control of government, sinful cities, and the World (Joyce, 2009). ! The Duggar family is the public face of the Quiverfull movement. Their Arkansas home is full of Mom, God, and Tater Tot casserole. Despite the large size of the family, the Duggars are debt-free (they buy used and save the difference) and live in a 7,000 square foot home, which they built as a family project (Duggar & Duggar, 2010). Michelle home schools all the children, and each child learns to play both violin and piano (Duggar & Duggar, 2010). ! The Duggars state: When we first got married we thought we would have maybe two or three children. Michelle started off our marriage taking the Birth control pill so we could plan when we wanted children. After three years, Michelle went off the pill and we had our first son Josh. We loved being Joshs parents and getting to spend all our time with him, but we
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didnt think we were ready for more children yet. So Michelle went back on birth control pills after Josh was [Link] the unexpected happened, followed by the unthinkable: Michelle got pregnant, even though she was still taking birth control pills. We thought that was impossible, but we were surprised to find out different! Between her second and third month, Michelle miscarried. When the doctor told us the miscarriage probably happened because she had conceived while still on the pill, we were devastated. To us, it meant that something we had chosen to douse the pillhad caused the end of the pregnancy. As conservative Christians, we believe every life is sacred, even the life of the unborn. Due to our lack of knowledge, we destroyed the precious life of our unborn child. We prayed and studied the Bible and found a host of references that told us God considered children a gift, a blessing, and a reward. Yet we had considered having another child an inconvenience during that busy time in our lives, and we had taken steps to prevent it from [Link] werent sure if Michelle could have any more children after the miscarriage, but we were sure we were going to stop using the pill. In fact we agreed we would stop using any form of birth control and let God decide how many children we would have. Just a couple of months later, Michelle became pregnant with twins. A double blessing! At first our families had a lot of concerns for Michelles health and how would we be able to take care of and support our family. But over the years they have warmed up to the idea and have been understanding about our heart commitment to love children like God loves children (Duggar & Duggar, 2010). ! Was birth control responsible for Michelles miscarriage, and the Duggars subsequent adoption of the Quiverfull philosophy? Black, Eskola, Siegrist, Halsey, MacDonald, Law, & Miller, et al. (2010) point out that even though two variables share a temporal association, as in this case, where the use of oral contraceptives coincides with miscarriage, that does not mean that one variable caused another the other to occur (p. 2115). It is important to be aware of the background rate of occurrence of events such as miscarriage, so that one does not make a false association wherein two events correlated in time are misinterpreted as causation (Black et al., 2010, p. 2115). ! Black, et al., (2010) points out that:

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Unfortunately, the availability of the internet together with an increased public concern and engagement in interpretation of adverse event data have increasingly allowed for spurious associations to be promoted as fact. Widespread beliefs that such false associations are true can and do disrupt programs, often to the detriment of public health. Factors that contributed to the quick acceptance of several of these false assumptions of causal association were a lack of understanding of how passive reports of adverse events can be interpreted and poor understanding of the scientific methods used to assess causality (Black, et al., 2010, p. 2115).

! ! Although Black, et al., (2010) was speaking about vaccination, his statement can be applied to this situation as well. The Duggars are firmly convinced that Michelles miscarriage was caused by birth control pills, which is stated numerous times on their website. This message from Jim Bob again asserts that birth control is responsible for his wifes miscarriage, and their subsequent adoption of the Quiverfull philosophy, stating: ! When Michelle and I first married, we thought we might have one or two children. Four years into to marriage, we had our first child. After that, Michelle went back on the birth control pill. She ended up getting pregnant while on the pill and had a [Link] were so grieved. We did not know that sometimes the pill allows you to get pregnant but then causes a miscarriage. We thought we could set our own timetable for having children, for example- when we were "financially able," or when we "had all our ducks in a row."We read in the Bible that God says that children are a blessing and a reward from Him (Psalms 127:1-5). We had been rejecting His gifts. At that point, we prayed and asked God to forgive us and we gave Him this area of our lives. We said, Lord, help us to love children the way that you love children, and Lord we want to receive each one as a gift from you (Duggar & Duggar, 2010).

! Jellesen, Strandberg-Larsen, Jrgensen, Olsen, Thulstrup, & Andersen, (2008) in a study of 91, 952 women, use of combined estrogen and progesterone oral birth control and progesteroneonly birth control pills was not correlated with increased risk of fetal death (miscarriage and stillbirth) compared with those who did not use birth control pills, even after adjusting for mothers age, previous miscarriages, smoking, and consumption of
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coffee and alcohol (p. 339). Furthermore, they found that they were unable to correlate increased risk of fetal death when the use of oral contraceptive continued into early pregnancy (Jellesen, et al., 2008 p. 339). Almost 100,000 women, and no significant evidence that birth control either before or during pregnancy, causes miscarriage. ! Wilcox, Weinberg, O'Connor, Baird, Schlatterer, Canfield, & Armstrong, et al. (1988), in a study in the New England Journal of Medicine found: The total rate of pregnancy loss after implantation, including clinically recognized spontaneous abortions, was 31 percent. Most of the 40 women with unrecognized early pregnancy losses had normal fertility, since 95 percent of them subsequently became clinically pregnant within two years (p. 189). This study would have relevant to the time that Michelle Duggar had her miscarriage, which they attributed to Michelle Duggars use of birth control pills. If almost a third of all pregnancies end in miscarriage, how is it possible to establish a positive causal inference between taking birth control pills and miscarriage? ! Svarre, Nybo, Kolte, & Christiansen, (2008) found that women whose firstborn is a boy have higher rates of subsequent miscarriages. Could the Duggars first born boy Josh be responsible for the miscarriage, instead of birth control pills? Again, correlation does not imply causation, and just because there is a positive correlation it does not mean that one variable is causative. ! Many people falsely correlate birth control pills and emergency contraception with abortifacients, but the notion that birth control pills and emergency contraception cause abortion is fallacious. Birth control pills and emergency contraception prevent a fertilized egg from implanting in the uterine wall. Abortion is the removal of a fertilized egg, or fetus from where it has implanted on the uterine wall. Though both are correlated in that use of birth control pills, emergency contraception, and abortion all have the net result of zero children born, they are not the same, and birth control pills do not cause abortion. Correlates of A Womans Right To Choose: ! ! Historically, laws criminalizing abortion revolved served three basic purposes in that such laws (a) restrained illicit sexual contact,(b) prevented women from undergoing a procedure that was medically hazardous, and (c)protected state interests in preserving prenatal life (Hartman, Mersky & Tate, 2007 p. 8).

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! Back then, we did not have nuclear weapons, and economic and social order depended on keeping women subservient to men, which entailed keeping them perpetually occupied giving birth, which gave the state lots of soldiers to fight in wars that were provoked by men who believed they were very important. ! The only people who could afford safe abortions were generally the daughters of men who believed they were very important (Levitt & Dubner, 2005, p. 138). Poor women did not have the funds to exercise the right to chose. It was illegal and dangerous to pursue a back-alley abortion, or take things into your own hands with a coat-hanger (Levitt & Dubner, 2005, p. 138). ! In the 1960s, in Connecticut two statutes existed regulating contraception. The first prohibited the use and and the second statute prohibited assisting or distributing contraceptive devices (Hartman, Mersky & Tate, 2007 p. 292). In 1965, the constitutionality of these was challenged in Griswold v. Connecticut (1965) which determined that state statutes prohibiting assistance with or use of contraception violated marital privacy rights that were protected by the First, Third, Fourth, Fifth, Ninth and Fourteenth Amendments to the Constitution of the United States (Hartman, Mersky & Tate, 2007 p. 291). Thus, by The Courts decision in Griswold v. Connecticut (1965) married couples were provided with the right to choose whether their private and intimate associations would result in procreation by asserting their right to use or not use contraception; such right is beyond the reach of statutory regulation (Hartman, Mersky & Tate, 2007 pp. 291-295). ! In Eisenstadt v. Baird (1972) the court augmented the precedent set in Griswold v. Connecticut (1965) by extending the right to use contraception to unmarried individuals (Hartman, Mersky & Tate, 2007 pp. 290-291). The Courts decision in Eisenstadt v. Baird argued that the right to choose whether or not one would procreate was based in the individuals autonomy, not the marital relationship (Hartman, Mersky & Tate, 2007 p. 291). ! Though women had the pill after Griswold v. Connecticut (1965) and Eisenstadt v. Baird (1972) most women still had to no legal right to exercise individual autonomy in the case of finding themselves carrying an unwanted pregnancy. All this changed in 1973, when a poor, unmarried woman named Norma McCorvey, who fell pregnant with her third child in 1970. Having given two previous children up for adoption, Norma was pregnant but unwilling to have a third child (Levitt & Dubner, 2005, p. 3). Ms. McCorvey , who had made regrettable decisions in her life; was uneducated, had substance-abuse problems, and
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was of unfortunate socioeconomic status (Levitt & Dubner, 2005, p. 4). ! Yet, despite her lack of qualifications, McCorvey still wanted to choose when or if she produced offspring. She wanted to ignore what men who thought they were very important had decided. Her audacity led to others supporting her cause, and in 1973 Roe v. Wade was decided by the United States Supreme Court (Levitt & Dubner, 2005, p. 4). McCorvey did not get to have the abortion that she wanted, and ended up giving her third child up for adoption, because it took time for men who thought they were very important to hear her case (Levitt & Dubner, 2005, p. 4). ! Yet, thanks to McCorvey, ironically now an ardent prolifer, women throughout the United States can exercise the right to chose when or if they have a child. The decision in Roe v. Wade (1973) held that the right of privacy encompassed a womans right to choose to terminate her pregnancy. However, this right was not absolute. After the first trimester, and until the fetus was viable, the state could regulate abortion to the extent of protecting womens health. After viability of the fetus is established, the state may then prohibit abortions, except in instances where the abortion is necessary to maintain the life and health of the pregnant mother (Hartman, Mersky & Tate, 2007 p. 9). ! Perhaps that is where the false association wherein one would equate birth control with abortion was established. The Courts decision in Roe v. Wade (1973) relied heavily on precedent established in Griswold v. Connecticut (1965), and affirmed and augmented in Eisenstadt v. Baird (1972). Without Griswold v. Connecticuts precedent, Roe v. Wade (1973) might not have been decided in favor of a womans right to choose. ! Though abortion is correlated with a lower crime rate does not mean that abortion leads to lower rates of crime, as the relationship between the two variables of crime and abortion may not coordinate in a linear fashion (Donohue & Levitt, 2001; Levitt & Dubner, 2005, pp. 136-145; Wright 1921, p. 558). Some might argue that abortion has not led to lower crime rates, as they see abortion as a crime. Those who would draw such conclusions must keep in mind that Roe v. Wade (1973) explicitly concluded that abortion was a right guaranteed by the penumbral rights of privacy that that are inherent in the Bill of Rights and the Fourteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution, and is therefore legal, ergo, not a crime. Do Such persons forget that the First Amendment provides for separation of Church and State under the Freedom of Religion clause? ! Donohue & Levitt, 2001, conclude that:
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While falling crime rates are no doubt a positive development, our drawing a link between falling crime and legalized abortion should not be misinterpreted as either an endorsement of abortion or a call for intervention by the state in the fertility decisions of women. Furthermore, equivalent reductions in crime could in principle be obtained through alternatives for abortion, such as more effective birth control, or providing better environments for those children at greatest risk for future crime (p. 35).

! In other words, the drop in crime might not be caused by abortion so much, and might instead be a net effect of a larger phenomenon. Perhaps now that women have the right to choose, when a woman does decide to have a child, her mental, physical, educational, and economic fitness makes her a better parent to that child, who reaps the benefits of that fitness by leading a lawful life. References: Alleyne, R., & Monahan, L. (2010). UNICEF urgently appeals for ! aid for Haiti following devastating earthquake. U.S. Fund ! for UNICEF - UNICEF USA. Retrieved from http:// ! [Link]/news/releases/unicef-urgently-appeals! [Link] Black, S., Eskola, J., Siegrist, C., Halsey, N., MacDonald, N., ! Law, B., Miller, E., et al. (2010). Importance of ! background rates of disease in assessment of vaccine safety ! during mass immunization with pandemic H1N1 influenza ! vaccines. The Lancet, 374(9707), 2115-2122. doi:10.1016/ ! S0140-6736(09)61877-8 Bortel, D., & Bortel, S. (2010). [Link]. [Link]. ! Retrieved from [Link] Donohue III, J.J., & Levitt, S. D. (2001). The Impact of ! Legalized Abortion on Crime. SSRN eLibrary. Retrieved from ! [Link] Duggar, J. B., & Duggar, M. (2010). Jim Bob & Michelle Duggar ! Family: Frequently Asked Questions. The Duggar Family. ! Retrieved from [Link]

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