Changes in the Attitudinal Correlations of Opposition to Abortion, 1977-1985

Abstract

The 2 primary rationales that religious groups use for opposing elective abortion are respect for human life and a conservative sexual morality. This indepth study was designed using data from NORC General Social Surveys for 1977 1982 and 1985 to examine how these 2 rationales were used by 3 different religious groups namely: Catholics non-fundamentalist Protestants and fundamentalist Protestants. The study considers denominational differences affecting the cognitive bases of abortion attitudes. It takes into consideration the gender differences in abortion attitudes. The results can be summed up as follows: all 3 groups can be said to use the respect for human life rationale throughout the entire period between 1977 and 1985. But in 1977 there was a difference between Catholics who used respect for human life and Protestants who learned towards sexual morality. By 1985 all groups except the fundamentalists opposed elective abortion based on sexual morality. In 1985 the fundamentalists held both rationales of more or less equal value.