Nature v. Nurture vs. Abortion Laws

Theory

The illegalization of abortion care and access leads to families being forced to have children when they are not ready to or in the proper place to do so. When this happens, babies are born into families with characteristics of alcohol and drug addiction, low-income individuals, and abuse and neglect of children. Babies being born into these families are subject to the nurture factor, and if they also have the nature factor in their DNA, they may grow up with psychopathic and homicidal tendencies. While nature versus nurture both play a role in the creation of these individuals, the root cause of these two factors lies in the illegalization of abortion.

Introduction

If I asked you to name any infamous serial killers that you know of, you would likely be able to list several. Ted Bundy, Jeffrey Dahmer, the Zodiac Killer, Ed Gein, John Wayne Gacy, Charles Manson, Gary Ridgeway… the list goes on and on. Apart from the terrible, gruesome acts that these killers were responsible for, they all have one other thing in common. They were all born before 1973 and reached their peak of psychopathy in the 90s, at the latest. But if I asked you to name just one infamous serial killer from the 2000s, 2010s, or 2020s, you would likely draw a blank. Why is it that all the infamous serial killers that we know were mostly active in the 70s, 80s, and 90s? Why do we not hear about these types of criminals emerging in the last two and a half decades? Those infamous killers that we know were all born before 1973, so their parents didn’t have the option of having an abortion. They were born before a time in which women could safely and freely make that choice to terminate a pregnancy. So, is there a connection between these two facts? If so, what is it? What could have been done differently? What could happen in the future?

Nature versus Nurture

According to Victor Katch at the University of Michigan, nature versus nurture is a debate that is outdated. Our current research shows that genes do not act independently of their contexts, but rather, dependently on their contexts. The nature factor refers to genetic predispositions that impact the physical, emotional, and intellectual characteristics of a human. The nurture factor refers to the impact of learning and environmental factors on their characteristics. In this situation, the nature would be the genetic passing of psychopathic and other mental disorder tendencies, whereas the nurture would be the abuse, neglect, and other environmental factors in childhood.

It is also important to note that this is the same controversy over whether killers are born or bred. That is just another term for nature versus nurture. Many still believe that only one factor plays a role, most believing in nature, but modern research often shows that both can play a role.

History of Roe v. Wade and the Overturn

According to Planned Parenthood, the history of Roe v. Wade goes back to Texas. An unmarried woman, under the pseudonym Jane Roe, wanted to terminate her pregnancy. Texas law prohibited this, and Henry Wade was the district attorney of Dallas County at the time. On January 22, 1973, the court ruled that the constitutional right to privacy “is broad enough to encompass a woman’s decision whether or not to terminate a pregnancy”. This case legalized abortion nationwide in 1973 by declaring abortion bans unconstitutional.

Prior to 1973, nearly all states had abortion bans, excluding certain circumstances. Despite the ruling in this case, abortion care continued to be difficult to obtain for low-income individuals, young people, and people of color. To this day, abortion remains one of the most controversial topics in politics, religion, and government.

Fast forward almost 50 years, the Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization supreme court case removed the constitutional right to abortion, allowing each state to decide their own abortion laws. According to the Center for Reproductive Rights, this case arose from a Mississippi law banning abortion after 15 weeks, which was struck down as unconstitutional. The Women's Health Organization challenged this case, and Mississippi asked the court to not only uphold their state’s abortion ban, but to overturn Roe v. Wade. This case was filed on March 19, 2018, under Donald Trump’s presidency. In 2022, the United States did overturn Roe v. Wade, allowing states to decide their own abortion laws, under which many states have put partial or complete bans into place.

Upbringing of Infamous Serial Killers

Before we dive into the upbringing of some of those infamous serial killers, let us first look at their birth dates to reiterate the importance of them being born before 1973. Ed Gein was born in 1906, and his killings were in the 1950s. Charles Manson was born in 1934, and the murders he was convicted of took place in the late 60s and early 70s. Susan Atkins, who worked alongside Manson, was born in 1948. Ted Bundy was born in 1946, and his crimes occurred mostly in the 70s. Jeffrey Dahmer was born in 1960, and his crimes occurred from 1978 to 1991. The Menendez brothers were born in 1986 and 1970, just a few years before Roe v. Wade. Their crime occurred in 1989.

Ted Bundy was born at a home for unwed mothers, and he was left there for two months while his mother debated putting him up for adoption. She decided to take him home, and he grew up thinking his mother was actually his sister. Ted’s grandpa was very violent and abusive, and it was suspected that Ted was at the center of his abuse. Some experts even theorize that Ted could have been the child as a result of his mother being raped by her father. When he was 3, his mother started a relationship and gave her son this man’s last name, Bundy. He did not have a good relationship with his mother, stepfather, or classmates. Many years later, Ted went on to kidnap, rape, and murder dozens of women across the U.S., 30 of which he admitted to after a decade of denying the claims and acting as his own lawyer in court. Some experts suspect there were over 200 victims, but the true number remains unknown.

Jeffrey Dahmer took the lives of 17 young men, in an attempt to turn them into living zombies. He claimed he just wanted these men to stay with him. At the age of 4, he had a surgery that was followed by several noticeable changes in his behavior and personality. Jeff’s mother had severe mental illness, trying to take her own life on several occasions, and his parents fought often. They got divorced in Jeff's senior year of high school, and both of his parents abandoned him. He had become an alcoholic, dropped out of Ohio State after one quarter, and then joined the army. After being discharged, his alcoholism and loneliness drove him to the start of his murders.

While the Menendez brothers are not always classified as serial killers, they are often considered right along with Bundy and Dahmer. The two boys murdered their parents in 1989, followed by a famous court case. Their parents were very wealthy, so the court ruled that they were guilty of this crime and sentenced them to life without parole. They admitted that they murdered their parents, but their reasoning wasn’t deemed valid at the time of this case. They claimed that from the age of 6 until their young adulthood, their father was extremely abusive and molested them regularly. Their mother was aware of the situation and contributed to the abuse. They claimed that they truly believed that if they did not stop the abuse, their parents would kill them. At their trial, cousins and relatives of the family testified on behalf of the brothers. Nude photographs of the boys at the age of 6 and medical records were presented as evidence. Both brothers also gave detailed testimonies about the specifics of the sexual and physical abuse that they endured.

Ed Gein had an alcoholic father and a verbally abusive mother. She was very dominating of her children and enforced very strict rules on purity. However, Gein idolized his mother, and his brother, Henry, often confronted him about this. When Ed was 38, his brother died in a very mysterious fire at the family’s farm. His mother died the next year, and Ed was so devastated that he became a hermit. 12 years later, Ed murdered a hardware store owner, attracting the police to his home. There, they found that he had been robbing graves and collecting body parts to turn into household items, clothing, and masks. They also found the head of another woman he had murdered 3 years prior. Courts deemed that he was mentally insane at the time of the crimes, and he remained in a mental hospital until his death. Ed Gein later became the inspiration for popular movies, like Psycho, Silence of the Lambs, and Texas Chainsaw Massacre.

Charles Maddox was born to a 16 year runaway mother, while his father abandoned his mother before he was born. His mother began dating a new man, and she gave Charles this man’s last name, Manson. Both of these adults were heavy drinkers and would often disappear for days at a time. Charles’ mother went to prison for robbery when he was 5, so he went to live with his aunt and uncle until 1942. Once living with his mother again, Charles endured her abusive parenting again, while he was getting into criminal trouble himself. What started as robberies, theft, and forgery quickly turned into the creation of a cult, called “The Manson Family”. The members included young women in their late teens and early 20’s, who lured men to join the cult. Members of the Manson Family were convicted of murdering 9 people, but experts suspect that number to be much higher.

Apart from Charles Manson himself, one of the most notorious members of this cult was Susan Atkins. When she was just 19, she met Charles, who was 33 at the time. She was born to two alcoholic parents, and her mother died when she was 15. Her father abandoned her after this, so Susan moved away by herself. Just a few years later, she became one of the key culprits in the Manson Family murders.

Justification of Theory

Some current beliefs on why we are not seeing or hearing of infamous serial killers anymore include forensic advancements, such as DNA and fingerprinting abilities, and improved police practices, like interrogations, profiling, data analysis, and more. Some even track it down to surveillance technology, less frequent use of parole, and public awareness. However, none of these can truly be linked to a direct cause and effect. Individuals who are serial killers are not capable of controlling their impulses, so they will not stop their actions in fear of being caught. In 2020, about 50% of murders went unsolved. In 2022, 63% of violent crimes went unsolved. While our forensics and policing have improved technologically and sociologically, this pattern shows a decrease in murders being solved each year. That is not correlation.

The infamous serial killers that we have discussed, and other serial killers, often reach the peak of their psychopathy in their 20s and 30s. We have seen that in their ages when they started committing crimes to when they were arrested for the final time. As Roe v. Wade has been overturned in 2022, we may see in the future the consequences of that. If this theory holds true, in 20 to 30 years, when babies that are being born now reach their peak of psychopathy, we may start to have new infamous serial killers again.

Those babies being born before 1973 were being born to parents who were not in suitable places to have children. They were struggling with drug and alcohol abuse, from low-income families, and with tendencies for abuse and neglect. Had these parents had the option to terminate a pregnancy when they were not in the right time of their lives to be having children, perhaps those babies wouldn’t have endured the negative childhoods filled with abuse and neglect. Perhaps those babies wouldn’t have turned into Ted Bundy, Jeffrey Dahmer, Charles Manson, and so on.

While those babies are likely subject to nature (their DNA and genetics passing along psychopathy, sociopathy, narcissism, etc.) AND nurture (their parents abusing and neglecting them), the combination of the two can create a deadly effect. The reason this combination created the effect it did is because babies were being born into families not suited to have children. Whether you side more with nature or nurture, there is a deeper reason as to why those were playing such a large role. The very simple answer is that mothers were not able to access abortion care when they needed it.

Brain Makeup of Serial Killers

If Ted Bundy didn’t grow up thinking his mother did not want him, would he still have murdered so many women? If Jeffrey Dahmer wasn’t abandoned by his father and suicidal mother, maybe he wouldn’t have killed men in an attempt to cure his loneliness. If Lyle and Erik Menendez weren’t molested by their father, perhaps they wouldn’t have been driven to murder their parents. If I had been placed in the childhood home of Charles Manson, would I have turned out the same? Most of us were dealt very lucky hands in life, and unfortunately, we cannot share those hands with children in dangerous and devastating situations. We can never really know what is going on in someone's head. If you have ever been able to watch the interviews of Jeffery Dahmer after his arrest, he shares over and over that he knows what he did was wrong, but that the impulses were so strong that he could not control them. He tried to stop, but eventually, he fell victim to his own mind. While we all have our own mental struggles, I personally cannot imagine what it feels like to be at war with yourself and to be afraid of your own mind. These individuals are mentally ill. They have altered brains - they are sick. They are not always evil monsters, but rather, fighting evil monsters in their brains and from their childhoods.

In a research experiment from the Mind Research Network, scientists studied the brains of incarcerated criminals at the Wisconsin and New Mexico Departments of Corrections. They tested both criminals who had committed homicide and criminals who had not, for psychopathy, substance use severity, IQ, psychiatric disorders, and brain injury. This study provided evidence that the brains of murderers truly are structurally and functionally different from those who do not have homicidal tendencies.

Another study from the University of Wisconsin School of Medicine and Public Health studied DTI and fMRI scans of prisoners’ brains. These scans showed reduced structural integrity in the white matter fibers and less coordinated activity between the vmPFC and amygdala. These two brain structures regulate emotion and social behavior. This study provided evidence that there is an uncontrollable reason as to why psychopaths are characterized by lack of control, empathy, reason, and remorse.

These are just two of the recent experiments that have been done on the brains of criminals. Other research has shown a common discovery of abnormal structure and function in the prefrontal cortex and frontal lobe. The differences in gray matter, connectivity, and neural circuits lead to the traits that we see, such as lack of empathy, impulsiveness, antisocial behavior, and poor decision-making and planning.

Statement on Bias and Discrimination

The claim in this article deals with issues such as low-income families, individuals dealing with drug and alcohol addiction, and victims of child abuse and neglect. The claim states that such individuals were not in the right space or capacity to be having children, but had to since abortion was not legalized until 1973. This article is in no way, shape, or form attempting to discriminate against or bring attention to such individuals, but rather, it is focusing on the specific parents of infamous serial killers. This article is also not claiming that all children who are raised in these situations will turn into serial killers. There is no discrimination or bias towards individuals with these characteristics, whether they are parents of such situations or children produced from these situations. There is no room for bias or discrimination within this theory, and this is not a claim that such people should never have children or are not capable of doing so. Every individual and family is unique and has their own story. There is also no bias in this claim about parents who do or do not choose to have an abortion.

References

Center for Reproductive Rights. (2024). Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization. Center for Reproductive Rights. https://reproductiverights.org/case/scotus-mississippi-abortion-ban/

Center for Reproductive Rights. (2024). Roe v. Wade. Center for Reproductive Rights. https://reproductiverights.org/roe-v-wade/

Charles Manson website. (2024). Charles Manson’s Childhood: Swallowed up by the system. Charles Manson website. https://www.charlesmanson.com/childhood/

Editors, Biography.com. (29 March 2021). Susan Atkins. Biography. https://www.biography.com/crime/susan-atkins

Jenkins, J.P. (2024). Ed Gein. Britannica. https://www.britannica.com/biography/Ed-Gein

Johnson, S., et al. (1998). Trial Story: The Menendez Brothers on Trial: The Real Story (TV). The Paley Center for Media. Paley Archive. https://www.paleycenter.org/collection/item/?item=B:65888#:~:text=Their%20cousins%20offer%20supporting%20testimony,from%20his%20sixth%20birthday%20party

Katch, V. (16 December 2022). Nature vs. Nurture? It’s Both. University of Michigan. Michigan Today. https://michigantoday.umich.edu/2022/12/16/nature-vs-nurture-its-both/

McEvoy, C. & Editors, Biography.com. (15 September 2023). Jeffrey Dahmer. Biography. https://www.biography.com/crime/jeffrey-dahmer

Piccotti, T. & Kettler, S. (30 August 2023). Inside Ted Bundy’s Troubled and Disturbing Childhood. Biography. https://www.biography.com/crime/ted-bundy-childhood

Planned Parenthood. (Janaury 2014). Roe V. Wade: Its History And Impact. Planned Parenthood Of America Federation, Inc. https://www.plannedparenthood.org/files/3013/9611/5870/Abortion_Roe_History.pdf

Sajous-Turner, A., et al. (1 October 2021). Aberrant brain gray matter in murderers. National Library of Medicine. National Center for Biotechnology Information. https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC6942640/

Sanchez, C. (25 October 2024). The True Story Behind the Menendez Brothers’ Murders. Haprer Bazaar. https://www.harpersbazaar.com/culture/film-tv/a62385571/monsters-lyle-erik-menendez-murders-true-story-explained/

School of Medicine and Public Health. (7 November 2017). Psychopaths’ Brains Show Differences in Structure and Function. University of Wisconsin-Madison. https://www.med.wisc.edu/news/psychopaths-brains-differences-structure-function/#:~:text=The%20study%20showed%20that%20psychopaths,which%20mediates%20fear%20and%20anxiety