Abortion attitudes, 1965-1980: Trends and determinants.(Polling Data)(Statistical Data Included)

Summary

Approval of legal abortion increased dramatically among Americans between 1965 and 1973 (from an average of 41 percent for six different reasons in 1965 to 68 percent in 1973). Levels remained stable through 1977, then showed a slight but significant decrease (to an average of 64 percent) in 1978, rebounding in 1980 to the 1973-1977 level.

As of 1980, Americans are about six times more likely to approve than to disapprove of legal abortion for all six reasons cited in a survey sponsored by the National Opinion Research Center of the University of Chicago. (These range from the pregnancy's causing health endangerment to a married woman's not wanting any more children.) Although only seven percent of respondents disapprove of legal abortion for all the stated reasons, more than half of those who approve do not do so for all reasons.

There has been some fluctuation in approval associated with widely publicized major political and judicial actions (e.g., the 1973 Supreme Court decisions, enforcement of the Hyde Amendment, lifting of the federal ban-albeit only temporarily-on federally funded abortions). However, the behavior of the more than one million women each year who obtain legal abortions has as yet demonstrated no clear effect on public attitudes.

Multiple regression analysis of the independent effect of eight types of factors on abortion attitudes (by themselves and in combination) was conducted.

Those who favor and those who oppose legal abortion do not differ on 11 of 13 values ascribed to child development; but the two on which they do differ (obedience and curiosity) suggest a more authoritarian attitude toward childrearing and less emphasis on children's self-reliance among abortion opponents.

Of the various social and demographic variables examined, education has the strongest effect, with better educated respondents more likely to favor abortion availability. While education has a substantial impact on the abortion attitudes of all Protestant groups and of Jews, it is not significantly correlated with the abortion attitudes of Catholics. At any rate, multiple regression analysis shows that the various demographic and socioeconomic variables explain little of the variance in abortion attitudes.