In the New York Times, Jon Shields notes that overall levels of support for legal abortion have remained almost the same over the last fifty years, even as opinions on many “social issues” have become more liberal. He suggests that this is because both sides can justify their position by an appeal to rights–the rights of women or the rights of “unborn children.” In contrast, with many social issues, the appeal to rights only works on the liberal side. This led me to think about a series of General Social Survey questions about whether “whether it should be possible for a pregnant woman to obtain a legal abortion” in different circumstances: CONTINUED
David Weakliem
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