Elizabeth Adell Cook

Between two absolutes : public opinion and the politics of abortion

The authors examine changes in public attitudes toward abortion in the United States. They suggest that control of abortion is being removed from the federal courts and put into the hands of elected officials at both federal and state levels and that public opinion on abortion will therefore come to play an increasing role in the molding of abortion policy. They examine the factors that influence peoples abortion attitudes the role of religion in shaping those attitudes and the consequences of abortion attitudes for electoral politics. (ANNOTATION)Abstract The new Penal Code in 2009 was an opportunity for Timor-Leste to allow some legal grounds for abortion, which was highly restricted under Indonesian rule. Public debate was contentious before ratification of the new code, which allowed abortion to save a woman’s life and health. A month later, 13 amendments to the code were passed, highly restricting abortion again. This paper describes the socio-legal context of unsafe abortion in Timor-Leste, based on research in 2006–08 on national laws and policies and interviews with legal professionals, police, doctors and midwives, and community-based focus group discussions. Data on unsafe abortions in Timor-Leste are rarely recorded. A small number of cases of abortion and infanticide are reported but are rarely prosecuted, due to deficiencies in evidence and procedure. While there are voices supporting law reform, the Roman Catholic church heavily influences public policy and opinion. Professional views on when abortion should be legal varied, but in the community people believed that saving women’s lives was paramount and came before the law. The revised Penal Code is insufficient to reduce unsafe abortion and maternal mortality. Change will be slow, but access to safe abortion and modern contraception are crucial to women’s ability to participate fully as citizens in Timor-Leste.

Feminism and the Gender Gap—A Second Look

Using data from the 1984 American National Election Study, we reconsider the argument that feminism helps women realize their feminine values and policy preferences. Using an operational definition that allows us to identify male and female feminists, we find that feminism has a similar impact on the values and policy preferences of men and women, suggesting that feminism leads to feminist, not feminine values. In addition, we examine Conovers conclusion that the gender gap is due entirely to feminist women and find a gender gap among feminist men and women, potentially feminist men and women, and nonfeminist men and women.

Issue Voting in Gubernatorial Elections: Abortion and Post-Webster Politics

Nearly all studies of gubernatorial voting focus on the role of state economic conditions and incumbency on vote choice. Yet gubernatorial campaigns frequently focus on social issues such as abortion, the death penalty, and gun control. Using data from 1989 and 1990 exit polls in 10 states, we find that abortion was a significant predictor of vote choice in all but one. Our logistic regression analysis suggests that abortion position had a greater impact on vote choice than state economic conditions in eight of the 10 states in our analysis, and that abortion was a stronger predictor than even partisanship in Pennsylvania. This suggests the need to consider noneconomic issues in gubernatorial voting studies.

Catholicism and Abortion Attitudes in the American States: A Contextual Analysis

With regard to abortion it is possible that the Catholic Church influences only individual members of its laity that Church influence extends beyond its membership or that a large Catholic presence within a state may give rise to a pro-choice countermobilization. Non-Catholics may alter their views if they feel threatened by a dominant Catholic majority even if those non-Catholic individuals are relative atheists. 1990 state exit poll data from midterm elections are used to determine how Roman Catholicism affects abortion attitudes. The authors compare individual-level effects in which the Church socializes individual members with contextual effects in which the Church affects abortion attitudes by altering the terms of the debate outside of the Churchs membership. Both effects were statistically significant although the contextual effects of Catholicism were negative. The analysis therefore suggests that the Catholic Church is rather effective in teaching anti-abortion attitudes to its members but that a strong Catholic presence in a particular state occasions countermobilization by non-Catholics.

Measuring Public Attitudes on Abortion: Methodological and Substantive Considerations

Data from a 1989 CBS News/New York Times survey are used to examine the effect that the framing of questions on abortion has on estimates of what proportions of the population support various legal positions. The nationwide data and results from six state polls show that general questions with only two or three options overestimate the proportions of respondents who either favor a ban on all abortion or who would allow abortion under all circumstances. Questions that pose specific circumstances result in movement of respondents out of extreme categories and into more moderate ones. Even respondents who indicate they would favor abortion in all specific circumstances and those who favor abortion in none are likely to moderate their views when asked if they support restrictions that have been proposed in a number of states.

Generational differences in attitudes toward abortion.

Although scholars who focus on generational change generally portray the youngest cohorts as most liberal, this need not be so. Evidence is provided that among whites but not blacks, those who reached adulthood after the 1960s are less supportive of legal abortion than those who came of age during that decade. The decline in support for legal abortion is statistically significant after multivariate controls for demographic variables, religious and moral attitudes, attitudes toward gender roles, and general ideology and partisanship. Explanations for this result are tested.

Feminist consciousness and candidate preference among American women, 1972–1988

Recent research has suggested that women with a feminist consciousness differ from nonfeminists in their attitudes and values. This paper investigates the impact of feminist consciousness on candidate preference and vote choice in presidential elections from 1972 to 1988. In those elections in which candidates took divergent positions on feminist issues, feminism was a significant predictor of candidate preference after controls for demographic variables, political attitudes, and partisanship. In elections in which the candidates took similar positions, however, feminism did not affect candidate preference. The 1980 election was the exception: in that election, feminists cast relucantant ballots for Carter, while rating John Anderson higher.

Issue Voting in U.S. Senate Elections: The Abortion Issue in 1990

Most studies of Senate elections have used aggregate data to examine the sources of electoral success. These studies have shown that incumbency, challenger quality, and candidate spending are important sources of electoral outcomes. Yet research also suggests that issues matter in Senate elections. In this study, we show that the abortion issue was an important source of vote choice in some of the 1990 Senate elections.

Evangelical Women and Feminism

Although a number of studies have demonstrated that evangelical women are more likely than other women to take anti-feminist positions, recent research suggests that there might be substantial support among evangelicals for certain feminist positions. Using data from the 1984 American National Election study, we find that evangelical women are indeed more antifeminist than other women, but that a sizable minority take feminist positions on a number of issues. Approximately one in six can be classified as having a politicized feminist consciousness, while an additional quarter are potential converts to the feminist cause. These potential feminists are fairly negative toward the feminist movement, however. This is due in part to the association by many evangelical women between the womens movement, lesbian rights, and abortion.

Between Two Absolutes: Public Opinion and the Politics of Abortion

The authors examine changes in public attitudes toward abortion in the United States. They suggest that control of abortion is being removed from the federal courts and put into the hands of elected officials at both federal and state levels and that public opinion on abortion will therefore come to play an increasing role in the molding of abortion policy. They examine the factors that influence peoples abortion attitudes the role of religion in shaping those attitudes and the consequences of abortion attitudes for electoral politics. (ANNOTATION)