Variable predictors of attitudes toward the legalization of abortion.

Abstract

This paper updates and expands the study of abortion attitudes originally done by Blake and del Pinal (1980). Since 1978, the last year examined by those authors, the American public's approval of the legalization of abortion initially increased but then dropped to the lowest level ever recorded by the General Social Survey. Religion, as coded by Blake and del Pinal, and education continue to be strong predictors of abortion attitudes as are individual's beliefs about premarital sex, divorce, and euthanasia. A major finding of this study is that the same factors which predict abortion attitudes among persons having polar positions on the subject also predict abortion attitudes among the general population.