My friend Michael J. New, an assistant professor of political science at the University of Alabama who is currently a visiting fellow at Princeton's Witherspoon Institute, writes:
This fall a study on state abortion rates that was released by Catholic Alliance for the Common Good has received plenty of attention from Democrats and supporters of Barack Obama. They have used this study to claim that 1) pro-life laws do not work and 2) the best way to reduce abortion is to spend more money on welfare programs.
I went ahead and did my own analysis with the exact same data as these researchers used. My full report appears on the Witherspoon Institute's Public Discourse and an article summarizing my findings is currently available on National Review Online.
If you do not have time to read the article, here is a summary of my findings.
1) I'm right
2) They're wrong
3) Pro-life laws work!
(and in case you were wondering, welfare does not make much of a difference)
