Scrooge and the Economics of Abortion, by Anna Reynolds

In a time with few literary works that are common knowledge, Charles Dickens’ A Christmas Carol remains widely known and often quoted. Ebenezer Scrooge is such a memorable miscreant, and he is so enjoyably villainous before his dramatic Christmas conversion.

When told that the poor would rather die than go to debtors’ prison, he responds callously, “If they would rather die, they had better do it, and decrease the surplus population.” The phrase “decrease the surplus population” is still widely recognized and universally ridiculed as an inhumane response to poverty.  …