To test the argument made by abortion advocates that increases in unwanted pregnancies that are due to rape justify the need for legal abortions, a Pearson correlation was calculated between the forcible rape rates and the legal abortion rates in the USA for 1985. The calculation gave an r of .21, a nonsignificant value.
References
1.
Bureau of the Census. (1987) Statistical Abstract of the United States, 1987. Washington, DC: US Government Printing Office.
2.
Bureau of the Census. (1988) Statistical Abstract of the United States, 1988. Washington, DC: US Government Printing Office.
