Q: Has the legalization of abortion caused the rate of child abuse to go down?

A: No. Here are some interesting statements concerning abortion and child abuse:

• "After Roe v. Wade, the overall U.S. homicide rate increased significantly by 39 percent and the rate for children one to four years of age increased by 73 percent." Gus J. Sltman, M.D., University of Medicine and Dentistry of New Jersey, Robert Wood Johnson Medical School at Camden, letter to the editor, JAMA 269:2033, 10/21/92.

• In reported maltreatment cases in the U.S. between 1980 and 1984, the mother was the perpetrator in 57-61 percent of the cases. (Statistical Abstract of the United States, 1987, table 277)

• "The growth rate of reported child maltreatment has more than tripled in the past 17 years. However, the average annual increase over the last five years has been three percent." (The National Clearinghouse on Child Abuse and Neglect Information)

• Over one million children in 48 states were victims of substantiated child abuse an neglect in 1994, an increase of 27 percent since 1990. (Child Maltreatment 1994: Reports from the States to the National Center on Child Abuse and Neglect)

• "Since elective abortion became available in 1972, there has been a continuing increase in child battering as indicated by a report of 22,693 battered New York children in 1974, and 26,536 in 1975." Philip G. Ney, M.D., "Is elective abortion a cause of child abuse?" Sexual Medicine Today, June 1980

• "For over a decade those who wanted abortions on request argued that it was necessary for every child to be a wanted child. However, there are reasons to believe abortion on request not only has not solved the problem of unwanted, neglected or battered children, it has worsened the problem." Philip Ney, M.D., "Relationship between abortion and child abuse," Canadian Journal of Psychiatry 24:610, 1979

• Over ninety percent of battered children are wanted pregnancies. (Lenoski, "Translating injury data into preventive health care services: Physical child abuse," Dept. of Pediatrics, University of Southern California, unpublished, 1976)

• Abuse is not more common among defective or retarded children. (Lynch and Roberts, "Predicting child abuse: Signs of bonding failure in the maternity hospital," British Medical Journal 1:624, 1977)