Conservative forum

Abortion Industry Complicit in Child Abuse

Planned Parenthood and the National Abortion Federation are aiding sexual predators, according to research done by pro-life research organization Life Dynamics and reported by Life Issues Institute, Inc.

These studies show that among pregnant girls aged 15 or younger, 60%-to80% have been impregnated by adult men. Worse, the younger the girl is, the older the man involved is likely to be. Further, young girls who are sexually active with adult men are much more self-destructive than their counterparts who are having sex with boys near their own age.

Among the behaviors the girls having sex with adult men are more likely to exhibit: abusing drugs or alcohol, entering physically abusive relationships, and becoming prostitutes.

These disturbing figures prompted Life Dynamics to check whether abortion facilities were living up to the law and reporting this child abuse. With a caller posing as a 13-year-old girl impregnated by a 22-year-old man, researchers called over 800 abortion facilities all over the country-with frightening results. Clinics advised the caller to bring in someone old enough to impersonate a parent, to call back and lie about the man's age so that the clinic could circumvent reporting the statutory rape, and reassured the caller that the crime would go unreported.

To view the extensive findings from this study, visit the Life Dynamics Web site at: http://www.lifeissues.org/misc/documentation.html.

Social Security Shortchanges Blacks

A recent study by the National Center for Policy Analysis (NCPA) finds that Social Security's rate of return-though a miserable investment for all Americans-- is especially bad for blacks.

The average black person is more likely to be completely or heavily reliant on Social Security income than his white counterpart. Cato Institute figures indicate that 75% of blacks rely on Social Security for at least half of their retirement income, while 37% completely depend on Social Security for this income.

The NCPA study indicates that a white 20-year-old man can expect 47 cents in benefits for each dollar he contributes to Social Security, while a black man of the same age should expect only a 34-cent return for each dollar he contributes. This is because Social Security benefits are inherently tied to life expectancy, which stands at 67.8 years for black men and 73.9 years for white men.

A similar (though less dramatic) discrepancy exists for women. The NCPA study concludes that blacks would benefit most from Social Security reform and that "[p]ersonal retirement accounts would allow African-Americans the opportunity to earn higher rates of return, save for their own retirement, and accumulate wealth to bequeath to their heirs."

For additional information on this report visit the NCPA we site at: http://www.ncpa.org/pub/ba/ba404/.

Regulatory Burden Out of Control

According to a recent study by the Cato Institute, the regulatory burden placed on Americans in 2001 amounted to $854 billion, or 8.4% of the U.S. gross domestic product (GDP). The study, Ten Thousand Commandments: An Annual Snapshot of fe Federal Regulatory State, by Clyde' Wayne Crews Jr., exposes the enormous cost that regulatory agencies place on taxpayers.

These agencies, created by Congress, allow the federal government to force costs on state and local governments or the private sector but avoid direct taxation, thus evading being held accountable for the spending that these programs require. Last year, regulatory agencies, which are not held responsible to taxpayers, issued 4,132 rules while elected representatives-the legislative and executive branches-signed a mere 108 bills into law. According to the study, U.S. regulatory costs amount to more than either Mexico or Canada's entire GDP.

The full study is available at the CATO web site: http://www.cato.org/tech/pubs/10kc 2002.ndf.

CIS Study Evaluates Foreign Student Program

A new study releasead by the Center for Immigration Studies raises questions about the efficacy of the foreign student program that issues student visas to over 300,000 graduate and undergraduate applicants annually.

The study, prepared by George Borjas, Pforzheimer Professor of Public Policy at the John E Kennedy School of Government, Harvard University, points out that the overall net benefit to the U.S. economy is negligible, and "may well generate a net economic loss for the country." Borjas points out that the INS has little if any control over the numbers or type of students who are admitted to the country, the program is riddled with fraud and corruption, and the American taxpayer subsidizes a large part of the tuition for foreign students.

The study is available on the CIS web site: http://www.cis.org/articles/2002/back602.pdf.

Students Attend Conservative Conference

The Young America's Foundation recently hosted its 6th annual National High School Leadership Conference in Arlington, Va., just outside Washington, D.C. The six-day conference began on June 18 with a capacity enrollment .of 114 students from 27 states. Students heard inspirational talks from such speakers as Jonah Goldberg, Reginald Jones, and M. Stanton Evans. One lecturer, American history expert Dr. Burt Folsom, exposed the liberal bias in a well-known high school history textbook used in many of the conference attendees' high schools. On Capitol Hill, the students were privileged to hear speeches by several congressmen, including Rep. Jim Ryun (R.-Kan.), Rep. J. D. Hayworth (R.-Ariz.), and Rep. Dana Rohrabacher (R.-Calif.).