Ideology and opposition to abortion: trends in public opinion, 1972-1980

Data from the National Opinion Research Center General Social Survey 1972-1980 are examined to determine the extent to which the conflict over legal abortion has come to be associated, in the structure of public opinion, with broader ideological differences concerning sexuality, feminism, and political liberalissm. Specifically, attitudes toward premarital sex, homosexuality, women's roles, liberal versus conservative political self-identification, and views on government spending policies are examined as possible ideological correlates of position on abortion. Log-linear analysis demonstrates that a clear, significant, and persistent association exists between abortion attitude and each of the other 5 issues, independent of religion, education, or sex of the respondent. Furthermore, there is no evidence of any change from 1972 to 1980 in the strength of the association of abortion attitude with any of the other questions considered, despite the increased polarization and politicization of the abortion issue over the time period studied.