Pro-life laws are saving lives after all. The Mafia’s complaints. And Iran doesn’t want to be “provocative.
Pro-Life Laws Are Saving Lives After All
Overturning Roe v. Wade has not seemed like the victory pro-lifers had expected. According to reports, the number of abortions has gone up since the Dobbs decision, despite many states banning or restricting the procedure. This is primarily due to the increased availability of abortion pills, which can be ordered online, even in pro-life states.
Nevertheless, the Journal of the American Medical Association published what is being described as “an analytically rigorous study” showing that the pro-life laws are saving lives after all.
As Michael J. New reports on the study,
It analyzed state level fertility data from all 50 states and the District of Columbia from 2012 to 2023. It found that state level abortion bans and heartbeat acts resulted in statistically significant increases in state fertility rates. Overall, it estimates that over 22,000 lives have been saved by recently enacted pro-life laws.
To summarize, “every abortion ban or heartbeat act was correlated with an increase in the state fertility rate. In short, every pro-life law that was analyzed saved lives.”
As one might expect, the journal article spun these findings as just terrible news. States with pro-life laws had 1.01 additional births per 1000 reproductive-aged females, resulting in what the researchers described as 22,180 “excess births.” Furthermore,
Estimated differences were largest among racially minoritized individuals, those without a college degree, Medicaid beneficiaries, unmarried individuals, younger individuals, and those in southern states.
That more lives are being saved among the poor, the working class, the young, racial minorities, and southerners is interpreted as “people experiencing structural disadvantage” being “unable to overcome barriers to abortion.”
Apparently, affluent women in pro-life states are buying abortion pills online, while more of the “disadvantaged” in those states are obeying the law and keeping their babies.
UPDATE: No, despite what is being reported, the data does NOT show an increase in infant mortality in pro-life states. See Media Mislead on a Study Linking Pro-Life Laws to Increased Infant Mortality. The irony of the media’s misplaced indignation, of course, is excruciating, considering what abortion does to infant mortality.
The Mafia’s Complaints
Employers often complain about the quality of young workers today. So does the Mafia.
Italy is cracking down on organized crime, particularly La Cosa Nostra in Sicily and southern Italy. Wiretaps of Mafiosi leaders have been revealing, not only of criminal activity but of the Dons’ frustrations with the younger generation.
Nick Squires of the London Telegraph reports on the conversations of crime bosses:
They said that, unlike their predecessors, new recruits were too quick to turn “pentito” – or state witness – as soon as they were arrested.
“The calibre these days is low, a miserable level,” Giancarlo Romano, an alleged mafia don, said in an intercepted conversation.
“If you watch The Godfather, the connections he had… he was very influential because of the power that he built at a political level. But us – what can we do? We’re on our knees, guys. We think we do business, but these days it’s others who do it. We used to be number one, now it’s others… we’re just gipsies.”
Gipsies? Gypsies? You’re not supposed to say that anymore! That’s an ethnic slur for the Romani people! These guys are not only murderers, thieves, drug traffickers, and extortionists, they are racists! The tapped phone line also recorded some fatherly advice: “He told one young recruit: ‘You should go to school – that way you will meet doctors, lawyers, the people who run Italy, Europe.’”
Also noteworthy is that in these conversations we see the actual Mafia trying to imitate the Godfather movies. One member of the gang, according to the tap, goes by the nickname of “Robert De Niro.”
The movies were art imitating life, but now life is imitating art. That is, life is imitating art that was imitating life.
Iran Doesn’t Want to Be “Provocative”
Under President Biden, the U.S. tried to be careful so as not to seem “provocative” to Iran. Under Trump, Iran is trying to be careful so as not to seem “provocative” to the U.S.
So observes Jim Geraghty who quotes the U.K. Daily Telegraph:
Iran has ordered its proxy forces across the Middle East to exercise caution as the Islamic Republic fears an existential threat following Donald Trump’s return to the White House, The Telegraph has learned.
Officials have told commanders of Iran-backed militias to avoid provocative actions that could escalate regional tensions.
Commanders have also been instructed to maintain defensive positions while avoiding any actions that could be interpreted as aggressive by US forces or regional allies.
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