Respect for Life, Sexual Morality, and Opposition to Abortion

Abstract

matter, which concerns specific rights which people may or may not hold, and indeed concerns the very identity of persons bearing rights. It does not necessarily follow that the understanding of the abortion issue characteristic of political, academic, or religious elites will be replicated at the level of the laity or mass public. Indeed, one would expect that, as one shifts attention to people whose psychological involvement in political or theological matters is less than intense, rationales for opposition to legalized abortion might become cruder, less articulate, and less sophisticated (Converse, 1964:229). Specifically, notions of "right to life," with their attendant theological or moral overtones, might seem rather abstract and remote from the experience of most people. Opposition to abortion may not be conceived in such "ideological" terms by members of the lay public, but might instead be based upon other considerations which seem more immediate and direct. While it is possible to conceive of a number of alternative rationales, a particular set of reasons for opposing abortion appears quite promising. For many people, opposition to abortion may be based on a fairly traditional attitude regarding sexual morality. For most Christian denominations, sex outside of marriage is regarded as inappropriate or sinful behavior. Opposition to abortion may quite legitimately be based on the notion that easily available abortions encourage sexual promiscuity, by removing some of the more serious consequences of premarital or extramarital sex. That is, absent the option of abortion, it is very likely that some people are deterred from sexual activity by the prospect of an unwanted pregnancy. To the extent that this prospect is rendered less serious by the easy availability of an abortion, the potential costs (psychological, structural, or financial) might be greatly reduced. If one regards sex outside of marriage as undesirable or immoral on other grounds, he or she might well conclude that abortion should be prohibited, without ever taking the "humanity" of the fetus into account. The purpose of this study is to assess, in a very preliminary and exploratory way, the relative impact of "right to life" and sexual moralty considerations on mass attitudes toward abortion. In general terms, it is hypothesized that certain groups in the population are very likely to oppose abortion (if they do) on "right to life" grounds, while others are more likely to invoke considerations of sexual morality. More specifically, three different hypotheses will be examined: First, Catholics are more likely to oppose abortion because of considerations of human life than are Protestants. The expectation here is that the Roman Catholic Church is a uniquely effective religious organization in terms of transmitting religious doctrines to the laity. Due to the pyramidal organization of the Church, as well as the existence of an "official" position regarding abortion (McIntosh, 1979:196; Blake, 1971) it might be anticipated that Catholic religious communications will be more homogenous and less ambiguous than those received by a practicing Protestant. The extent of Catholic religious training, as well as the explicitness of moral guidelines for Catholics (Lenski, 1963:301-303; McIntosh, 1979:196) might well be contributing factors in this regard. The organizational structure (broadly conceived) of the Church simply makes it more likely that lay attitudes toward abortion will be more consonant with official Church doctrine than will be the case among Protestants. Second, the importance of "right to life" considerations will vary directly with educational attainment. The precise moment at which human life begins is a highly complex, highly abstract problem. It is to be expected that the relative importance This content downloaded from 157.55.39.53 on Fri, 16 Dec 2016 07:41:28 UTC All use subject to http://about.jstor.org/terms