THE DEBATE ON ABORTION RIGHTS

By Ishani Paul
University of Cincinnati
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The Debate on Abortion Rights

Reproductive rights are an issue that has been coming into the public eye more and more

in the past few years. This issue includes topics such as access to contraceptives, birth control,

and resources for a healthy pregnancy. However, the most prominent of these issues is that of

abortion. There are two major sides to the abortion debate: the pro-life stance and the pro-choice

stance. The pro-life stance opposes abortion, and would like to outlaw it, while the pro-choice

stance supports abortion, and would like to keep it legal. The matter of abortion rights affects the

freedom of women in the population, therefore, it is important to understand the different social

and cultural factors that affect a person’s stance on the matter of abortion, to understand why a

person may support or oppose these rights.

The Pro-Life stance on abortion is the side that opposes access to abortion. This group in

the population wants abortion to be outlawed. They also attempt to pass bills limiting the

availability of abortion services, making it more difficult for women in the population access it.

However, the members of this group have many reasons for supporting their stance, ranging

from religion to their own moral code. They believe that abortion results in the death of a child,

and therefore, it should be illegal.

The Pro-Choice stance, however, fights to keep/make abortion legal. While abortion is

currently legal in the United States, many bills have been passed which limit the time frame in

which a woman would be allowed to have an abortion, with some of these frames being so small

the woman may not know she is pregnant yet. The Pro-Choice group tries to make abortion

services more accessible for those who need it. People in this group typically support freedom of

sexuality, and support access to abortion for anyone who needs or wants it. For them, access to

abortion ensures that there are fewer children growing up in homes where they are unwanted or
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where they cannot be cared for, simply because the mother was unable to terminate the

pregnancy, therefore, allowing for a better society. They view the access to this service as a right

which should not be taken.

The two stances on abortion completely oppose the goals of the other, and therefore it is

important to understand what factors may drive a person to support either group. These factors

could include religion, race, gender, or even social status. In addition, “speakers within the same

movement have reasons for framing issues differently” (Ferree), and therefore, we must

understand the role that these factors play in influencing the way an individual views the issue.

The first of these factors is religion, which plays a large role in the lives of individuals

particularly during the initial years of life, which can greatly shape one’s attitude towards issues

such as abortion. Religion helps individuals form their moral principles, and a sense of what is

right or wrong. Due to these teachings, it is possible that an individual’s religious beliefs cause

them to oppose abortion, as they view it as morally wrong. In the Catholic church, for example,

“the natural right to life of the fetus is absolute, fundamental, and non-negotiable” (Dillon).

Therefore, an individual who grew up with this concept as their moral code could view abortion

as the murder of the fetus, and they would strongly oppose it. However, for those who grew up

without such influences— either in an agnostic household or in a religion without any specific

teachings on abortion— they would consider other factors when determining their stance on

abortion. The stance on abortion for these other individuals would be based on other factors

which may have taught them other information or helped form a different moral code. However,

because religion is such a large aspect of the lives of many individuals, this is a strong factor in

deciding one’s stance on the abortion debate.

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Another factor that could affect one’s opinion on abortion is race, which causes variations

in the experiences that individuals have, with certain races experiencing more privilege in society

than others. The experiences regarding the issue of reproductive rights, for example, have been

“distinctly different [for women of color] from the movement for birth control that was led by

middle-class White women” (Edmonds-Cady). Certain races face more difficulties raising their

family due discriminations that they face in society, which make them more hesitant to begin a

family. Therefore, an unplanned pregnancy may require an abortion because the woman is not

prepared to deal with the difficulties of motherhood alongside the general discrimination she

faces in society. The different experiences that individuals of different races have encountered

contribute to their opinions on topics such as abortion. In addition, an individual’s race can push

some cultural norms onto them which influence their opinion on whether they support abortion

or not. In understanding how different races feel towards the abortion debate, it is important to

consider three things: “attitudes toward gender roles, attitudes toward ideal family size, and

attitudes toward premarital sex” (Wilcox). The way a certain race approaches these topics helps

understand why they may have stigmas against or supporting abortion.

A major example of the racial differences affecting one’s opinion on abortion is the

difference between African Americans and Caucasians. African Americans have been shown to

be less supportive of abortions than Caucasian Americans. However, African American women

“are twice as likely to have abortions as whites” (Wilcox). This information would typically

imply that African Americans would be more supportive of abortions, yet the statistic shows

otherwise. This shows how cultural values have such a strong effect on an individual’s opinions.

Despite the need for abortion being greater among African American communities, these

communities still tend to oppose it.

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However, this difference could also be caused by different gender belief in African

American and Caucasian American cultures. African American men were shown to have more

traditional views of gender-roles than Caucasian men, which influence views against abortion.

On the other hand, there were “no significant racial differences among women” (Wilcox),

implying that they may have similar views regarding abortion. When this information is

compared with the statistic of African American receiving abortions more frequently than

Caucasian women, it implies that while “black men may be less supportive of legal abortion than

white men… black women may be more supportive than white women because of the greater

frequency of abortion in the black community” (Wilcox). These results show how different

gender roles in a community can also affect opinions regarding abortion, with more traditional

gender roles opposing the idea while more modern gender roles (particularly in women, who

understand the need for abortions) show more support for them.

An individual’s socioeconomic status in a community can also affect their opinions on

abortions. Those individuals in lower socioeconomic classes may have less access to

contraceptives such as condoms or birth control. As a result, they would need access to abortion

services, due to the inability to properly prevent pregnancies. These individuals would, therefore,

desire increased access to these abortion services, as well as access to other reproductive rights

services such as Planned Parenthood. They experience greater need for these services than

individual of higher socioeconomic classes who may be able to easily access items to prevent

pregnancy, and therefore, abortion would not be as valuable a service to those who can easily

access contraceptive methods. Abortion allows the women in lower socioeconomic classes who

may accidently get pregnant due to a lack of contraceptives avoid an additional responsibility

when they may not be able to care for an additional person. Even with access to contraceptives, it
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is possible that the method of contraception fails, and therefore an unprepared woman would be

forced into caring for a child that she didn’t want, when she doesn’t have access to abortion

services. This, however, does not mean that all individuals of lower socioeconomic classes

support abortion while those of higher classes oppose it. There are many other factors which

were explained earlier that contribute to an individual’s opinion on this debate. However, the

difference in socioeconomic classes provides some individuals with a unique perspective on the

importance of access to these services, further showing how this factor can influence one’s

opinion.

Opinions on the abortion debate are influenced by many factors, with religion, gender,

race, and socioeconomic status being some of the major influencers. While these factors have

strong impacts, just one of these factors will not shape one’s opinion. Through a combination of

these influences, an individual develops a core ideology that forms their moral code and impacts

their view on matters. This core ideology then influences their view on matters such as abortion.

Therefore, by understanding an individual’s religious beliefs, ideas on gender roles, racial

ideology, and their socioeconomic status it allows for an understanding on why they may or may

not support access to abortion.

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Works Cited

Cheyney, M. (2011) Pushing for Midwives: Homebirth Mothers and the Reproductive Rights
Movement. American Journal of Sociology, 117(3), 1010-1012.

Dillon, M. (1996) Cultural Differences in the Abortion Discourse of the Catholic Church:
Evidence from Four Countries. Sociology of Religion, 57(1), 25-36

Edmonds-Cady, C. (2017) A Right to Motherhood? Race, Class, and Reproductive Services in

the Jim Crow South. Journal of Sociology & Social Welfare, 44(4), 143-166.

Ferree, M.M. (2003) Resonance and Radicalism: Feminist Framing in the Abortion Debates of
the United States and Germany. American Journal of Sociology, 109(2), 304-344.

Hopkins, N., Ntontis, E. (2018) Framing a ‘social problem': Emotion in anti‐abortion activists'
depiction of the abortion debate. British Journal of Social Psychology, 57, 666-683.

Wilcox, C. (1990) Race Differences in Abortion Attitudes: Some Additional Evidence. The
Public Opinion Quarterly, 54(2), 248-255