The Precious Vessel: Ambivalent Sexism and Opposition to Elective and Traumatic Abortion

Abstract

Ambivalent sexism theory highlights the per- nicious effects of benevolent sexism on women's free- doms in society. Because the ideology idealizes women as nurturing mothers, benevolent sexism should be neg- atively associated with support for women's reproduc- tive rights. The current study examined this possibility by assessing the relationship between benevolent sexism and support for (a) elective abortion (i.e., abortions pursued, regardless of the reason) and (b) traumatic abortion (i.e., abortions pursued when the woman' sl ife is endangered) in a national probability sample of New Zealand adults (N=6,132). As predicted, benevolent sex- ism was negatively associated with support for both elective and traumatic abortion. In contrast, hostile sex- ism—the punitive component of ambivalent sexism— was only negatively associated with support for traumat- ic abortion. These results demonstrate that ambivalent sexism—and particularly benevolent sexism—restricts women's reproductive rights even in extreme cases where a woman' sl ife is in danger.