What Influences Us?
Many people feel strongly about where they stand on abortion, without realizing how significant of an impact their environment may have had on their current views. While one’s opinions on abortion are not necessarily predetermined, it is important to consider how “organic” they may be — that is, whether or not someone has done the research to ensure that their views are more than just a product of their environment.
Some of the most influential factors in someone's opinion on abortion include race, religion, economic status, location, education, political affiliation, and age. The below table outlines which factors generally lead to someone favoring abortion, and which typically lead to someone opposing abortion.
| Favor Abortion | Oppose Abortion |
|---|---|
| Ethnicity is Asian or Black | --- |
| Identifies as Buddhist, Hindu, Jewish, or Unaffiliated | Identifies as Catholic Evangelical Protestant, Jehovah’s Witness, or Mormon |
| Has full-time employment or family income | Is economically disadvantaged |
| Lives in an urban or suburban area | Lives in a rural area |
| College graduate or more | High school education or less |
| Identifies as Liberal Democrat, Conservative/moderate Democrat, or Moderate/liberal Republican | Identifies as Conservative Republican |
| Age between 18 and 49 | Age over 50 |
It's easy to make claims about how certain environmental factors can influence how someone thinks about abortion, but how exactly do they do so?
RACE:
Many studies conducted about public opinion on abortion only consider race between black and white people, omitting other ethnicities. While certainly, these racial groups make up a large portion of the population in America, only considering white and black people does not paint an accurate picture of how opinions on abortion may or may not actually correlate with race.
Additionally, surveys from Social Science Quarterly noted that the impact race had on someone's opinion about abortion decreased with added controls for socioeconomic status, southern culture, age, sex, residence patterns, and religious affiliation. This suggests that it is not race itself that correlates with a certain opinion on abortion, but rather other environmental factors --- and the likelihoods of experiencing such factors being what are actually influenced by race. To quote, "[other] research advanced the argument that distinct cultural experiences translate into attitude differences between blacks and whites."
Pew Research Center, however, collected data that related race with the likelihood of favoring abortion. They found that groups who say abortion should be legal in all or most cases were 74% of Asian respondents, 68% of Black respondents, 60% of Hispanic respondents, and 59% of White respondents.
RELIGION:
The research conducted by Social Science Quarterly and the Pew Research Center suggests that religious groups who are more likely to favor abortion include Jewish, Black Protestants (66%), White Protestants (60%), Catholics (56%), and people who are religiously unaffiliated (84%). On the other hand, groups more likely to oppose abortion include conservative Catholics, White evangelical Protestants (74%), and people who regularly attend religious services and who oppose premarital sex.
ECONOMIC STATUS:
Social Science Quarterly found that factors that correlate to a positive attitude toward abortion include family income and full-time employment. Apart from this finding, many public opinion surveys fail to connect a relationship between economic status and opinion on abortion; rather, studies have found that people of a lower economic class are more likely to obtain an abortion --- but no research has been conducted to say whether it is merely out of necessity or if they are also more likely to favor abortion.
With economic status, however, one must also consider access to proper education and medical services. In low-income areas, people generally do not receive the same level of access to high-quality medical care as people who live in high-income areas. The presence of abortion clinics --- or on the other-hand, anti-abortion services --- is likely to influence one's opinion on the subject.
LOCATION:
Various studies agree that people from urban and suburban areas are more likely to favor abortion, while people from rural areas are more likely to oppose it. This is likely connected to a few different factors: people living in rural areas are more likely to attend religious services, they are more likely to be conservative, and rural communities are generally less diverse than urban communities, and therefore are less tolerant of different views.
EDUCATION:
With higher education levels, studies have found that people will be more likely to favor the legalization of abortion. According to Pew Research Center, of people who received a high school degree or less, 54% of them believe that abortion should be legal in all or most cases, while 44% believe abortion should be illegal in all or most cases. Contrastingly, 63% of people who have received some level of college education believe that abortion should be legal in most or all cases, and 66% of people who have earned an undergraduate degree believe abortion should be legal in all or most cases.
POLITICAL PARTY:
Political affiliation is likely one of the most unsurprising factors that correlates to one's opinion on abortion; a common belief is that Democrats support abortion while Republicans oppose it.
While this is generally true, the Pew Research Center found that it is actually much more nuanced than such a statement can express; being more conservative or liberal within a political party significantly influences the likelihood of supporting or opposing abortion.
Studies found that among conservative Republicans, 72% believe that abortion should be illegal in most or all cases, while only 27% believe that it should be legal in most or all cases. Of moderate and liberal Republicans, the percentages are flipped; only 38% believe that abortion should be illegal in most or all cases, while 60% believe that is should be legal in most or all cases. The stereotype of Democrats favoring abortion is largely true; 72% of conservative and moderate Democrats believe that abortion should be legal in most or all cases, while 90% of liberal Democrats believe it should be legal in most or all cases.
AGE:
Age is another stereotype used not just in someone's opinions on abortion, but also more generally in which way someone leans politically. Similar to political affiliation, the stereotype of conservatism increasing with age is largely true.
Findings from Pew Research Center suggest that of adults under the age of 30, 74% support abortion; of adults in their 30s and 40s, 62% support abortion; of those in their 50s and early 60s, 55% support abortion; of adults 65 years and older, 54% support abortion. This data suggests that as age increases, one is less likely to support abortion.
Additional findings from Social Science Quarterly provide suggestions for the reasoning behind the high percentage of young adults who support abortion. They write, "Because of the social and economic costs of having a child, women of child-bearing age may view abortion as more of a tool of great importance... perhaps to the point of overriding other value systems and definitions of its morality that they have internalized.” In other words, practicality is favored over morality in women of child-bearing age.