all the current fuss over local school budgets has me thinking about another interesting topic:

abortion.

I simply want to raise a few issues that I ( nor you )have NEVER HEARD discussed in the two decade old battle between groups calling themselves "pro-life" and "pro-choice."

if abortions become illegal tomorrow, many would say the only consequence is that America would return to "a standard of moral righteousness." Well, I see a few other things that would occur.

because I write and sell textbooks, I know there are about 3.5 million kids in every grade of our schools. There are about l.5 million abortions every year so it means that without abortions, in six years the school population would begin to increase by ~43% ... and in a dozen years, that wave of bodies will have surfed their way thru high school.

we live in a time where school boards dance in economic orgasm when they can release a part - time cafeteria worker and save the district $2,000 a year. Without abortion, we are looking at a 40% increase in school population. I have no idea what it would cost, but the influx of 40% more students would precipitate the largest single-focused coast-to-coast building project in the history of the country: constructing 40% more schools in l3 years.

look at a map of downtown Chicago ( or even Charleston ), where do you even see a potential of 40% more floor space ?

How much would it cost to evict the current tenants from those buildings; tear down the structures and erect schools ?

These are not l940 schools with a new plumbing system.

These are not l960 schools with a new coat of paint.

These are brand new electronic-schools at 2001 prices.

By the way, since we will undertake this massive construction project, let's increase the number of buildings by a factor of 50%+ to rid our society of absurd overcrowding that exists in so many schools, and destroy the many fire traps in which you wouldn't keep your pet rat; yet we think nothing of housing our children in them for l3 years.

ooops, we suddenly need 40% more teachers ( probably 60% if we want to get serious about the learning process and limit class size to a teachable 20-25 students ). To get that many teachers I would assume the starting pay would have to be raised to at least $35,000, with appropriate increases at the top of the scale.

each month I pay about $70 school taxes. About $60 is for "personnel services" [ salaries ]. In Charleston we don't feel the tax bite to paying for new buildings. Hiring 40%+ % more teachers at 75% salary increase, is going to cost ... lots ... even before we begin planting buildings atop the soil.
In the summer of 1995, my taxes increased $15/month with a tax referendum that allows the schools to buy some new texts. Just books. It wasn't for computers or teachers or bricks. $15/month for just a few more books. That provideds an interesting 'standard.'

by the way, we'll need 40% more basketballs, chalk, lockers, crossing guards and even have to re-hire that cafeteria worker.

and in just 13 years from now, we will have to start building 40% more colleges -- coast to coast. Right?

yes, I admit there are probably more abortions in Chicago than Lerna. Ironically, we are currently looking for a new way to finance schools; like a state income tax vs. property taxes. That means citizens of Lerna will have to help pay for all those new buildings in Chicago, even tho they might not need 40% more schools themselves. Maybe rural folks should stick to property taxes to build "just their schools" and not foot the bill for urban problems via some new school funding formula.

there will be another minor problem: law breakers. Let's say that only about 6% of the women ( l00,000 ) choose to disobey the ban on abortions. That means they have to be arrested ( along with l00,000 doctors ), and hopefully, executed. I say, hopefully, because the alternative sentence for First Degree Murder is life imprisonment for 200,000 people every year. That too would be awfully expensive. Since the current national prison population is about 1,000,000 ( ? ) we will have to construct 20% more prisons every year ... forever. Also -- there was the receptionist at the doctor's office who scheduled the abortion appointment. He is an accessory to murder, so let's make room for l00,000 receptionists/year to spend a modest decade in the poky. That's another 10% more prisons/per year. If it costs $20,000 a year to keep someone in prison, and we have 300,000 new inmates every year, then ...

some police departments will add staff ( $$$ ) for their special abortion patrols. And the tax laws need to be changed, too. Since the zygote / embryo / fetus is considered a legal person, a pregnant lady would be allowed to declare another tax deduction from the moment of fertilization, not just after the child is born. That would mean further loss of tax revenue, and I can envision many couples spending the last weeks of December trying to garner a deduction for the tax year.

let's not forget the cost of other social services needed to accommodate the influx of 27 million kids in the next l8 years: libraries; roads; sewers; and . . . jails. Lots of jails. And you know how our society just loves kids and teenagers.

and that gets back to me. Heck, if I sell 27,000,000 more books, I can afford the piddly $500 a month ( +/- ) increase in school and other taxes to help support the brood.

in addition to the huge increase in my royalty check, there is another good factor about any new law banning abortions. It will be a heck of a lot easier to get into medical school what with the ( imprisoned / excuted ) doctor shortage and all.

it is probably true that discussions about abortion have something to do with religious books. This letter doesn't want to touch that issue. I just want to point out that the topic also deals with checkbooks. I bet you never thought of that.

3,743,392 = ave # kids born each yr -- call it -- 3.7 mill/year