Abortion in context: historical trends and future changes

Reform of abortion laws in the United States stemmed from concern over the health consequences of illegal abortion. Feminists were relative latecomers to the movement, and abortion did not become a major political issue until after the Roe v. Wade decision by the Supreme Court. Most social scientists began to study public attitudes toward abortion, which have been relatively stable since that 1973 decision, only after the Supreme Court ruling, and they thus probably missed documenting the period in which the major attitudinal changes occurred. Polls showed that the American public is most likely to approve of abortion when there is a fetal defect and when the pregnancy endangers maternal health or is the result of rape. These single reasons do not seem to jibe with the complexities of real life, however: The majority of women who have abortions indicate more than one reason for doing so, and the major reasons given concern the conflicting responsibilities of school, work and family and an inability to afford another child. A view of the abortion controversy that puts it into a larger context than do most polls and most American research suggests that legal abortion in the United States is unlikely to be jeopardized in the long run. The trend in most Western industrial nations is toward a more secularized society that features more individual discretion and less control by religious and political institutions over private aspects of life. In the immediate future, a number of factors will perpetuate the need for access to abortion. Among them are early sexual activity that often results in pregnancies among very young women; dim prospects for innovative technological advances in the contraceptive field; and the AIDS epidemic, which may result in the use of contraceptives that are more effective against that deadly virus but less effective at preventing pregnancy. Nor will abortion decisions become any easier for the families and individuals involved, as technology continues to advance in its ability to identify fetal defects and to keep alive babies born at earlier and earlier stages of gestation.