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These intuitions predispose us to feel more protective of a fetus as it begins to resemble a newborn (and these days those intuitions may be primed more often thanks to the prevalence of ultrasound imaging). This liberal civil war has been quietly moderated by common moral intuitions about abortion. It is a rare fight in American history in which people on both sides think of themselves as human rights activists, called to expand the frontiers of freedom and equality. Thus, the pro-life movement endures precisely for the same reason that the pro-choice movement does - both are nurtured by our common rights-oriented culture. Instead, it’s a quarrel within what philosophers call the liberal tradition focused on individual rights, in this case, concerning the rights of women versus the rights of embryos. Why have pro-life sentiment and activism survived this past half century of far-reaching social liberalization? Because the abortion conflict was never really a culture war. Consequently, citizens on both sides of the issue are now far less divided by their position on gender roles than they were in the 1970s. Surveys also show that Americans embraced more egalitarian gender attitudes over time without letting go of their opposition to abortion. Although the Roman Catholic Church was key to propagating anti-abortion views in the early years of the abortion conflict, steep declines in church attendance have done little to depress pro-life sentiment. If abortion were like these cultural issues, we would expect Americans to be far more in favor of abortion rights today than they were 50 years ago, when rates of church attendance were higher and social attitudes were far more conservative, especially on issues related to gender and sex.īut that’s not what happened. rights or sex education, on which more Americans have embraced progressive views over time. The persistence of Roe’s many foes is surprising if you see abortion as a culture-war issue, like L.G.B.T.Q.
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Hence, a majority of Americans also support restricting abortion to the first trimester, roughly the line drawn by Mississippi. Indeed, although most Americans say they support Roe, most also don’t seem to know a critical fact about it: It established a right to abortion until the point of viability - usually at 24 weeks - and granted broad authority to physicians to perform them after that point. Close to half of survey respondents identify as “pro life” and half as “pro choice,” but whatever their identification, a majority of Americans are in favor of abortion being legal only in certain circumstances.
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Public attitudes on abortion have hardly changed since Roe was decided nearly 50 years ago. There are few greater constants in American life than legal challenges to Roe, which is remarkable in a country where so much else has changed. Wade, the Supreme Court will hear oral arguments in December on whether Mississippi can restrict abortion access to the first 15 weeks of pregnancy.