Personality and Individual Differences 146 (2019) 87–92

Contents lists available at ScienceDirect

Personality and Individual Differences

journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/paid

The interacting roles of abortion stigma and gender on attitudes toward T

abortion legality
⁎
Alison J. Patev , Kristina B. Hood, Calvin J. Hall
Virginia Commonwealth University, 806 W. Franklin St., Richmond, VA 23284, United States of America

A R T I C LE I N FO A B S T R A C T

Keywords: Abortion remains a hot-button political topic in the United States. Previous research demonstrates the impact of
Abortion religiosity and gender on attitudes toward abortion legality. However, limited work has examined the re-
Abortion legality attitudes lationship between abortion stigma and abortion legality attitudes. Furthermore, as both gender and religiosity
Abortion stigma are connected to stigma, it is plausible that gender, religiosity, and stigma might interact to drive abortion
Gender
legality attitudes. The current work used an online, self-administered sample of U.S. adults, recruited via
Religiosity
Amazon's Mechanical Turk. A moderated moderation analysis aimed to demonstrate the effects of abortion
stigma on abortion legality attitudes, and explore interactions between gender, religiosity, and abortion stigma.
Results showed a significant main effect of stigma on legality attitudes, such that increased stigma was related to
more negative attitudes. Furthermore, there was a significant three-way interaction of religiosity, gender, and
stigma. For men, religiosity significantly predicted abortion legality attitudes at low stigma, but for women,
religiosity was related to legality attitudes at all levels of stigma. These results have implications for prediction of
abortion legality attitudes, policy support, and voting behaviors and can inform abortion stigma reduction
programs.

1. Introduction
Abortion rates in the United States (U.S.) have steadily declined,
decreasing by 25% between 2008 and 2014 (Jones & Jerman, 2017).
Despite these decreases, about 24% of all women between ages 15–44
will have an abortion in their lifetimes (Jones & Jerman, 2017). For
women who seek or receive an abortion, significant abortion stigma still
exists (Kumar, Hessini, & Mitchell, 2009; Norris et al., 2011;
Hanschmidt, Linde, Hilbert, Riedel-Heller, & Kersting, 2016). Stigma is
a social process reproduced by socially dominant members of society
(Link & Phelan, 2001), who hold and share stigmatizing attitudes to-
ward, perpetuate stereotypes about, and discriminate against in-
dividuals from marginalized groups (Hanschmidt et al., 2016).
In U.S. society, individuals who seek abortions are highly stigma-
tized. Stigma leads individuals who have not had abortions to assign
negative attributes to those who seek abortion (Kumar et al., 2009;
Norris et al., 2011). Stigmatizing views of abortion, such as a violation
of traditional expectations of womanhood, lead to the process by which
stigma is perpetuated (Link & Phelan, 2001; Shellenberg, Hessini, &
Levandowski, 2014). First, dominant social beliefs surrounding wo-
manhood, motherhood, and morality lead to stereotyping women who
seek abortion as deviant and selfish. Then, separation occurs between
individuals who have had abortions and those who have not. Finally,
those who have had an abortion experience a loss of social status and
discrimination (Kumar et al., 2009; Shellenberg et al., 2014). Although
stigma can be held against abortion providers and pro-choice suppor-
ters (Norris et al., 2011), this work only addresses stigmatizing attitudes
toward individuals who have sought abortions.
To examine stigmatizing abortion attitudes, we use the framework
for stigmatizing attitudes, beliefs, and actions (Shellenberg et al.,
2014). This framework has three components. The first is labeling and
stereotyping, which reflects negative attributes and stereotypes assigned
to women who have received abortions. The second component is ex-
clusion and discrimination, reflecting agreement with discrimination
against and ostracizing of women who have had abortions. The final
component is a fear of contagion, which suggests that abortion is un-
clean or unhealthy, and women who seek abortion might contaminate
or corrupt others. These stigmatizing attitudes and beliefs are a crucial
part of abortion stigma perpetuation.
Understanding abortion stigma is important, as it is related to ne-
gative outcomes for women have sought abortion. Research shows that
stigma can lead to psychological distress before and after an abortion
(Major & Gramzow, 1999; Steinberg, Tschann, Furgerson, & Harper,
2017). Following an abortion, women are more likely to experience

⁎
Corresponding author at: Virginia Commonwealth University, 806 W. Franklin St., P.O. Box 842018, Richmond, VA 23284, United States of America.
E-mail address: patevaj@mymail.vcu.edu (A.J. Patev).

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.paid.2019.04.005
Received 25 October 2018; Received in revised form 6 March 2019; Accepted 2 April 2019
0191-8869/ © 2019 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
A.J. Patev, et al.
distress if they perceive more stigma (Major & Gramzow, 1999) and are
more likely to isolate themselves, resulting in less social support
(O'Donnell, O'Carroll, & Toole, 2018). Further, increased abortion
stigma may lead to life-threatening medical complications, as in-
dividuals who perceive stigma may be less likely to seek care for post-
abortion complications (Harris, 2012). As abortion stigma can nega-
tively impact the health of individuals who seek abortion, it is im-
portant to understand factors leading to stigmatizing attitudes.
One factor associated with abortion legality attitudes and stigma-
tizing attitudes is religiosity. Four common themes define religiosity
across numerous religions and beliefs, called the “four B's”: believing,
bonding, behaving, and belonging (Saroglou, 2011). It is not necessary
for each component to appear in equal measure for each individual,
leading to a range of ways that religiosity manifests. Although some
have taken a limited approach to defining religiosity, such as “partici-
pation in religious activities” (Begun & Walls, 2015), the current work
takes a broader approach, defining religiosity as individuals' percep-
tions of their connection to a religion. This approach is necessary due to
the various aspects of religiosity and the lack of necessity for adherence
to all dimensions of religiosity.
In the U.S., more religious individuals are less likely to support legal
abortion (Pew Research Center, 2018a). Religiosity has been linked to
abortion stigma, and is an important factor for the creation of abortion
stigma (Kumar et al., 2009; Norris et al., 2011). Frohwirth, Coleman,
and Moore (2018) interviewed women who had abortions and found
that increased religiosity was associated with experiences of perceived
and felt stigma and ostracism. In a quantitative study of self-stigmati-
zation, religious women who had sought abortion who endorsed sig-
nificantly increased abortion stigma than non-religious individuals
(Cockrill, Upadhyay, Turan, & Greene Foster, 2013). However, the re-
lationship between religiosity and abortion legality attitudes may differ
when gender is considered.
Gender is implicated in differences in abortion legality attitudes.
First, “gender” is an expansive term that includes many identities be-
yond the traditional, binary, including individuals who identify as
genderqueer, gender non-conforming, or agender. Despite this ex-
pansive definition of gender, to our knowledge, most studies of abortion
legality attitudes focus on a binary gender, such in a 2018 Pew Research
Center (2018a) study. Another study (Begun & Walls, 2015) demon-
strated how sexism was related to abortion legality attitudes. In-
dividuals who endorsed increased levels of sexism also endorsed anti-
choice attitudes compared to individuals who endorsed less sexism
(Begun & Walls, 2015). Other findings suggest that women are more
likely to support legal abortion than men (Pew Research Center,
2018a). However, religiosity might impact women's attitudes differ-
ently than men, partly due to gender and religion socialization pro-
cesses that emphasize motherhood as a primary role for women. Cis-
gender U.S. women tend to be more religious than men (e.g., Pew
Research Center, 2014; Schnabel, 2015). Nonetheless, existing research
suggests that after controlling for religiosity, women still emerge as
more supportive of abortion legality than men (Barkan, 2014). Thus, it
is evident that gender is a crucial aspect of abortion legality attitudes.
Moreover, it is plausible to suggest that gender also impacts en-
dorsement of stigmatizing attitudes. A connection is likely, considering
that abortion stigma stems from gendered ideas about women, wo-
manhood, and motherhood (Kumar et al., 2009; Norris et al., 2011).
Women are disproportionately targets of abortion-related stigma, as
they are the individuals receiving most abortions (Norris et al., 2011);
therefore, it is possible that gender might change individuals' en-
dorsement of abortion stigma. It is plausible that women, under-
standing the decisions that other women may have to make, may hold
less stigma toward other women. However, it is equally possible that
women may be harsher judges and hold more stigma. Thus, it is im-
portant to explore the role of gender in abortion-stigmatizing attitudes.
Limited research examines stigmatizing attitudes and their re-
lationship to attitudes about abortion legality. While both deal with
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Personality and Individual Differences 146 (2019) 87–92
attitudes surrounding abortion, abortion stigma is a social process by
which stigmatizing attitudes, beliefs, and actions, are enacted toward
individuals who have sought abortion. In the context of this study,
stigma and stigmatizing attitudes are externalized, meaning that they
are enacted against women. In contrast, abortion legality attitudes are
attitudes held by anyone, and do not inherently discredit or marginalize
women seeking abortion (though laws and stigma are linked; see Kumar
et al., 2009). Generally, these attitudes are toward the act of abortion
itself and opinions on whether it should remain legal. It is reasonable to
suggest a connection between stigmatizing attitudes and abortion leg-
ality attitudes. Individuals who hold more stigmatizing attitudes are
likely to think women who seek abortion are immoral or dirty, (Kumar
et al., 2009). Through their actions, women who have had abortions are
perceived to violate social norms (Kumar et al., 2009). Because ideas
about women who have sought abortions stem from the action they
have taken, it is plausible that individuals will feel negatively toward
that action as well. That is, endorsing abortion stigma will be connected
to negative attitudes toward abortion legality.
Support for legal abortion continues to hold a majority in the United
States. Currently, 57% of Americans believe that abortion should be
legal in all or most cases (Pew Research Center, 2018a), although
opinions remain divided along party lines. Nearly 71% of Republicans
reported that abortion should be illegal, while 91% of Democrats re-
ported that abortion should be legal (Pew Research Center, 2018a).
Most recently, the confirmation of U.S. Supreme Court conservative
Justice Brett Kavanaugh has led to uneasiness among pro-choice acti-
vists, as his confirmation could threaten Roe v. Wade (Matthews, 2018).
With the prominence of the abortion debate comes an availability of
stigmatizing public messages regarding abortion. Furthering our un-
derstanding of abortion stigma may begin to reduce stigma and help
combat negative attitudes and improve outcomes for those seeking
abortions. Moreover, advanced knowledge of abortion legality attitudes
may help predict policy support and voting behavior. Therefore, a
comprehensive understanding of factors impacting abortion legality
attitudes is warranted.
1.1. Purpose
Limited work demonstrates a connection between abortion stigma-
tizing attitudes and attitudes regarding abortion legality. The current
online, self-administered study examined the unique effect of abortion
stigmatizing attitudes on abortion legality attitudes, as well as the im-
pact of stigmatizing attitudes on the connection between religiosity and
abortion legality attitudes, after controlling for political ideology.
Moreover, it is reasonable to suggest that religiosity may impact the
relationship between abortion stigmatizing attitudes and abortion leg-
ality attitudes, but that these relationships might differ based on
gender. Thus, our second aim was to examine, using a moderated
moderation, how gender interacted with religiosity and abortion stig-
matizing attitudes. We predict that the interaction of religiosity and
stigmatizing attitudes will differ dependent on individuals' gender.
2. Method
2.1. Sample
This sample was recruited in winter 2017, shortly after the in-
auguration of U.S. President Donald Trump. Participants included 311
individuals recruited via Amazon's Mechanical Turk (MTurk). MTurk is
an online marketplace on which researchers can post “tasks,” such as
online surveys, to reach samples they may not be able to recruit at their
universities. Participants scroll through a list and agree to complete
tasks in exchange for money credited to their Amazon accounts.
Moreover, MTurk data has been found to be equally reliable, if not
more so, than college samples (Goodman, Cryder, & Cheema, 2012).
The recruitment criteria stipulated that participants were living in the
A.J. Patev, et al.
United States, were over 18, and able to read and respond in English.
After initial data screening, eight participants were removed. Two
participants were removed who identified as gender non-conforming,
and one was removed due to a missing gender value. Another five were
removed due to missing values on one or more of the variables, leaving
a final sample of 303 individuals. Of this final sample, 143 individuals
(47%) identified as a man and 160 individuals (53%) identified as a
woman. The mean age was 36.57 (SD = 12.35), with a range of 18 to
71. An overwhelming majority, 240 individuals (78%) identified their
race as White, while 21 (7%) identified their race as Black, and 18
individuals each (6%) identified their race as Hispanic/Latino or Asian.
The remaining 3% identified as biracial, a race not listed, Native
American, or had missing data. A majority of the sample, 180 in-
dividuals (59%) identified as being religious, while 123 (41%) identi-
fied as non-religious. The sample was fairly mixed in terms of self-rated
political ideology, with the largest percentage (17%) identifying as
“very liberal,” then “neither liberal nor conservative” (16%), “moder-
ately conservative” (15%), and “moderately liberal” (14%). Participants
represented all regions of the country, mostly the South (30%), Midwest
(23%), Northeast (18%), and Southwest (16%). Almost all fifty U.S.
states were represented, with the highest percentage from California
(12%), Florida (8%), and Texas (8%).
2.2. Materials
2.2.1. Religiosity
Self-reported religiosity was assessed using one item, “Do you re-
gard yourself a religious person?” Response items included “Yes” or
“No.”
2.2.2. Political ideology
One item assessed self-reported political ideology. Individuals re-
sponded to the question, “How would you rate yourself on the following
scale?” Response options ranged from 1 (As conservative as it gets) to 9
(As liberal as it gets), with an option in the middle (5) indicating neither
liberal nor conservative. Higher scores indicate more liberal attitudes.
2.2.3. Stigmatizing Attitudes, Beliefs, and Actions Scale (SABAS;
Shellenberg et al., 2014)
This 18-item measures assesses individuals' stigmatizing attitudes
toward individuals who have sought abortion and includes three sub-
scales congruent with the components of stigmatizing attitudes, beliefs,
and actions: the negative stereotyping subscale, the exclusion and dis-
crimination subscale, and the fear of contagion subscale. In this work,
the measure was totaled to get a complete stigma score. Higher scores
indicate increased stigma. Reliability for this measure was also ex-
cellent at α = 0.93.
2.2.4. Abortion legality attitudes
We assessed abortion legality attitudes using a combination of three
items taken from the Political Ideology Scale (adapted from Shook &
Fazio, 2009): “Abortion is wrong, because everyone, even unborn ba-
bies, have the right to life,” “Abortion should be illegal,” and “It's a
woman's constitutional right to choose whether or not to have an
abortion.” Items used a five-point Likert scale ranging from 1 (Agree
Strongly) to 5 (Disagree Strongly), and the third item was reverse-
coded. Lower scores indicated more negative attitudes toward abortion
legality. The overall alpha for these items was good, α = 0.87.
2.2.5. Gender
Participants' self-identified gender was assessed using one item,
“With which gender do you identify?” Options were “Man,” “Woman,”
“Gender non-conforming,” and “Not listed.” Only three individuals
identified as “gender non-conforming” or “not listed” in the sample and
were removed from the analyses. This was necessary as this sample size
does not provide adequate statistical power to make comparisons
89
Personality and Individual Differences 146 (2019) 87–92
between these individuals, individuals identifying as men, and in-
dividuals identifying as women.
2.3. Procedure
The current work was approved by the institutional IRB.
Participants, culled from MTurk, completed this study via the survey
website Qualtrics in the winter of 2017. Participants first electronically
consented, then completed the survey, including the religiosity and
political ideology items, the SABAS, abortion legality items, and gender
item. The measures in this study were part of a larger survey. The entire
survey took no more than an hour and fifteen minutes to complete. The
items specific to this study took less than ten minutes to complete.
Finally, participants were provided with closing information that re-
iterated the purpose of the study, offered national suicide, sexual as-
sault, and reproductive health resources, as well as the researchers'
contact information. Finally, they were granted an incentive of $1.25,
credited to their Amazon account.
3. Results
3.1. Preliminary results
Correlations among variables were conducted and are in Table 1.
Significant correlations emerged among abortion stigma, abortion leg-
ality attitudes, and religiosity, though gender did not significantly
correlate with any variable. The correlation between abortion stigma
and abortion legality attitudes was moderate at r = −0.63, but does
not exceed the cutoff of r = 0.7 (Tabachnick & Fidell, 2001), which
would indicate multicollinearity between variables. Indices of multi-
collinearity showed a tolerance of 0.89 (tolerance values should be
greater than 0.2; Menard, 1995), and a variance inflation factor (VIF) of
1.13, which is less than the cutoff value of 10 (Myers, 1990). This
evidence suggests no multicollinearity between the two variables.
Preliminary evidence from our sample suggests that women hold
less abortion stigmatizing attitudes than men do. An independent
samples t-test was conducted to examine differences between men and
women on endorsement of abortion stigmatizing attitudes. On average,
women reported less abortion stigmatizing attitudes (M = 32.82,
SD = 13.25) than did men (M = 37.52, SD = 13.77). This difference
was significant, t(303) = 3.03, p = .003. Thus, women in this sample
endorsed lower levels of abortion stigmatizing attitudes, compared to
men in the sample.
3.2. Moderated moderation
To examine whether gender impacts the moderating effects of
abortion stigmatizing attitudes on the relationship between religiosity
and abortion legality attitudes a moderated moderation using Hayes's
(2013) PROCESS regression-based tool was used. After controlling for
political affiliation, results demonstrated that religiosity was positively
associated with abortion legality attitudes. Those who identified as
religious reported more negative attitudes toward abortion legality B
(SE) = 1.84(0.33), p < .001. Further, stigmatizing attitudes were ne-
gatively associated with abortion legality attitudes. Those who reported
Table 1
Correlations for all variables.
Variable 1 2 3 4
⁎⁎⁎
1 Abortion stigma – −0.63 0.05 −0.27⁎⁎⁎
2 Abortion legality attitudes – 0.08 0.42⁎⁎⁎
3 Gender – 0.05
4 Religiosity –
⁎⁎⁎
p < .001.
A.J. Patev, et al.
more stigmatizing attitudes toward people who seek abortions reported
more negative attitudes toward abortion legality B(SE) = −0.11(0.01),
p < .001. There were no significant interactions between religiosity
and abortion stigmatizing attitudes, p = .22, between religiosity and
gender, p = .64, and between gender and abortion stigmatizing atti-
tudes p = .08.
However, there was a statistically significant interaction between
abortion stigmatizing attitudes, religiosity, and gender, B
(SE) = 0.11(0.05), p = .01. Bootstrap analyses demonstrated that for
men, levels of religiosity and abortion stigma significantly affect their
attitudes toward abortion legality. For men who report less stigmatizing
attitudes, those who identify as religious had more negative attitudes
toward abortion legality than those who identified as not religious [B
(SE) = 3.18(0.76), p < .001]. However, men who reported more
stigmatizing attitudes, religiosity did not influence their attitudes to-
ward abortion legality [B(SE) = 0.46(0.64), p = .47]. For women, the
relationship between abortion stigma and abortion legality attitudes
also depended on religiosity. For women who report less stigmatizing
attitudes, those who identify as religious had more negative attitudes
toward abortion legality than those who identified as not religious [B
(SE) = 1.40(0.53), p = .009]. However, unlike the men, for women
who reported more stigmatizing attitudes, religiosity matters. Those
who identify as religious had more negative attitudes toward abortion
legality than those who identified as not religious [B(SE) = 2.11(0.74),
p = .005]. See Fig. 1 for the details of the 3-way interaction.
4. Discussion
The current research investigated relationships between religiosity,
abortion stigmatizing attitudes, gender, and their interacting effects on
abortion legality attitudes. Results demonstrated that individuals
holding more stigmatizing attitudes had more negative attitudes toward
abortion legality. Inconsistent with previous literature (McMurtie,
Garcia, Wilson, Diaz-Olavarrieta, & Fawcett, 2012), we did not find that
abortion stigmatizing attitudes significantly moderated the relationship
between religiosity and abortion legality attitudes. The moderation's
non-significance could be attributed to the effect of gender on abortion
legality attitudes.
Interestingly, our findings suggest a statistically significant inter-
action between abortion stigma, religiosity, and gender, such that
Fig. 1. The moderating effects of gender and abortion stigma on the connection between religiosity and abortion legality attitudes.
90
Personality and Individual Differences 146 (2019) 87–92
religious women had more negative abortion legality attitudes, despite
abortion stigmatizing attitudes. For men, religiosity was related to more
negative abortion legality attitudes, but at low levels of abortion stig-
matizing attitudes. No significant difference was found between re-
ligious and non-religious men at high stigma. These findings suggest
that religion could play an important role in attitudes toward abortion
legality for men lower in stigma attitudes, but for men high in stigma
endorsement. In women, religiosity played an important role in the
relationship between abortion stigma and abortion legality attitudes.
Religious women who reported increased stigma had more negative
attitudes toward abortion legality than those who were not religious.
For the women in this sample, despite level of stigma, religion nega-
tively affected abortion legality attitudes. These results imply that for
women, religiosity leads to more stigmatizing attitudes and more op-
position to abortion legality. These results may attributable to increased
religiosity among women (Pew Research Center, 2014; Schnabel,
2015).
4.1. Limitations
One limitation of the current study was the lack of representation in
our sample. The sample for this study was overwhelmingly White,
(78%) and identified with a Christian faith (47%). It is possible that if
the sample had been racially or religiously more diverse, the results of
the current study may be different. For instance, research suggests that
Black and Hispanic Americans rate religion as more important to their
lives than White Americans (Pew Research Center, 2018a). Regardless
of religiosity, however, Black individuals are just as likely as White
individuals to support legal abortion in all or most cases (Pew Research
Center, 2018a). Moreover, abortion support varies widely among dif-
ferent religions; Jewish, Buddhist, and Hindu individuals tend to sup-
port abortion at higher rates, compared to Muslim and Christian-iden-
tified individuals (Masci, 2018). These factors should be considered in
subsequent study.
A second limitation of the study was the use a 1-item measure of
religiosity. While the measure allowed for adequate determination of
religiosity, it did not allow individuals to report strength of religiosity.
Future research should use a more comprehensive measure, such as the
Daily Spiritual Experiences Scale (Underwood & Teresi, 2002), along
with inquiry into how level of religiosity may affect the current study's
A.J. Patev, et al.
variables of interest. Moreover, more inclusive measures of religiosity
and spirituality should be used to examine religious affiliation as well,
as previous research demonstrates gender differences in religiosity and
religiousness based on type of religion. For instance, Christian women
are more religious than Christian men, but Jewish and Islamic men are
more religious than women of their faiths (Freese & Montgomery, 2007;
Pew Research Center, 2014).
Third, a high correlation between abortion stigma and abortion
legality attitudes (r = −0.63) may be considered a limitation. This
value may raise some red flags regarding multicollinearity and the
distinctness of these items. However, this value does not exceed tradi-
tional cutoff values of 0.7 (Tabachnik & Fidell, 2001) or 0.8 (Berry &
Feldman, 1985), which have been used to indicate whether additional
tests may discern multicollinearity. Further, tolerance was greater than
0.2 and VIF was less than 10, indicating that the two variables are
unlikely multicollinear. Subsequent research should further distinguish
between these two constructs, as well as between related constructs
such as morality, social dominance orientation, and sexism.
A final limitation was the assessment of political ideology using a
single item. While this item was intended to gauge self-identified con-
servatism or liberalism, it is possible that participants had difficulty
selecting an option. In the future, this item might include fewer options,
such as the one used by Pew Research Center (2018a), which offers five
response options ranging from very conservative to very liberal. Future
work should consider use of a multi-item political ideology measure,
such as the Social and Economic Conservatism Scale (Everett, 2013).
4.2. Implications
This research has important implications for understanding varied
abortion legality attitudes. First, future research should replicate find-
ings and rectify discussed limitations, and should examine the under-
lying processes that may drive the relationships between abortion
stigma, religiosity, gender, and abortion legality attitudes. For example,
additional work may determine whether morality may influence re-
sults. Individuals against abortion legality may perceive abortion to be
immoral, which leads to increased stigma and negative attitudes.
Examination into these relationships will provide a more nuanced
picture of abortion stigma and abortion legality attitudes, which will
aid in combatting abortion stigma and predicting abortion legality at-
titudes.
The current work demonstrates a novel connection between abor-
tion stigmatizing attitudes and abortion legality attitudes. Developing
more comprehensive knowledge of abortion stigma and stigmatizing
attitudes is necessary, as abortion stigma can lead to negative outcomes
for individuals seeking abortion (e.g., Harris, 2012; Steinberg et al.,
2017). Findings from the current study could guide research on dif-
fering effects of religiosity between men and women in the context of
abortion stigma. Furthermore, this suggests that different tactics to
reduce high levels of abortion stigmatizing attitudes could be used for
different populations. Interventions for religious women might include
aspects of religiosity that encourage women to feel more positively
toward those who have had abortions. As religiosity did not influence
stigmatizing attitudes for men, stigma among religious and non-re-
ligious men might be reduced with the same intervention. Future re-
search should also examine factors beyond religiosity that drive high
levels of stigma endorsement among men.
Finally, this work offers a novel view on abortion legality attitudes.
Better understanding abortion legality attitudes is critical, as abortion
has long been an influential topic for candidate support and has in-
creasingly become a central issue for voters in the current political
climate (Pew Research Center, 2018b; Vandermaas-Peeler et al., 2018).
The current findings suggest that increases in abortion stigma are
connected to more negative attitudes about abortion legality. These
findings could examine the effects of stigma on voting behaviors and
policy decisions in the United States. Future study may examine
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Personality and Individual Differences 146 (2019) 87–92
whether religiosity, gender, and stigma interact to drive individuals'
decisions when voting on abortion. This information is pertinent for
activists, politicians, and other stakeholders in abortion policies, and
can be used to target voters and cull support for specific policies.
In sum, the current study revealed that gender influences how re-
ligiosity and abortion stigmatizing attitudes predict abortion legality
attitudes. For women, increased religiosity leads to more negative
abortion legality attitudes across the board, regardless of stigmatizing
attitude endorsement. For men, religiosity matters when they hold less
stigmatizing attitudes. These findings provide a novel picture of abor-
tion stigmatizing attitudes and its relationship to abortion legality at-
titudes and highlight factors that lead to abortion policy support or
rejection. Ultimately, these findings aid in the fight to combat abortion
stigma and improve outcomes for individuals who seek abortion.
Declarations of interest
None.
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