Poster
Jozkowski, K.N., Crawford, B.L., Turner, R.C., & Lo, W.J. (2020). Examining attitudes toward abortion: Do people’s attitudes change when considering gestational age and fetal development? Society for Family Planning (SFP) Annual Meeting.
Since the 1970’s, the General Social Survey (GSS) has assessed U.S. adults’ abortion attitudes via seven items examining specific scenarios (e.g., rape, financial reasons, any reason). These data indicate general support for abortion and suggest attitudes have remained relatively stable. However, these items do not account for gestational age of the pregnancy. Given the increase in legislation restricting abortion based on gestational age (e.g., 6-weeks) and fetal development (e.g., fetal pain), we re-assessed the GSS items, adding both gestational age and specific fetal development markers that are often referenced in legislation. Modified versions of the GSS items asking “should it be possible to obtain a legal abortion” at different gestational ages (6 weeks, 12 weeks, 20 weeks, any time in pregnancy) and fetal development markers (fetal heartbeat, fetal pain, fetal viability) were administered online to U.S. adults (N = 2,442). Quota sampling was used to obtain a diverse national sample. Results indicate that even for the scenarios that typically have high levels of support (rape, woman’s health, fetal defect) support drops from 65-81% when using the GSS wording, to as low as 25-32% when asking with gestational ages and markers of fetal development in the item. Similarly, those scenarios that typically have less support (no more children, low income, not married) drop from 45-49% to 9-11%. When considering gestational age, public support for abortion may be lower than GSS data indicates. Researchers and advocates should consider this aspect of abortion attitudes when conducting research and developing messaging and educational programs.