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Comment by mynameishere | Hacker News Reader

People who consistently use birth control tend to be less impulsive and more future-oriented than people who have to resort to abortion (a last-resort form of birth control). ie, the type of people who aren't your typical criminals. That would be the thinking, I suppose. For my part, I think mass incarceration is probably the main reason for crime going down.

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> I think mass incarceration is probably the main reason for crime going down.

This hypothesis is strongly challenged by the fact that crime has also dropped in other developed countries that do not have mass incarceration.

Pretty much every criminal says they've learned more crime/techniques and could build their "network" in prison. So more prisoners would likely have effect of continuing/promoting crime.

Anyway - no birth control method (except abstaining) is 100%, even when you stack multiple different ways it can happen.

And some methods of birth control - like pill for woman and vasectomy for guys - can mess you up long term.

Women describe getting off the pill like completely changing their taste/smell senses, even brain/thinking ...etc (which sounds similar to what happens in/after pregnancy). When they give it to teenage girls (to "fix" their irregular cycle) they often gain weight..

And while vasectomy could be reversed, it's not guaranteed it would work.

That's why you don't let them go once they are in. Works quite well in El Salvador.

^ There's a reason people recommend using two methods of birth control at any given time, but even then—freak accidents happen. Four nines isn't 0% :P

Also worth noting that there are about a million birth control pills on the market with different side effects... and different levels of efficacy. Progestin-only pills are popular because people tend to tolerate them well, but they're notably less effective than pills with estradiol in them. Sometimes that's a worthwhile trade-off!

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