Last week, the Pew Research Center released a poll on public opinion about abortion in Europe and the United States. The survey asked respondents whether abortion should be “legal in all or most circumstances.” Responses varied quite a bit across the regions, with most European countries showing greater public support for legal abortion than the United States did. (Editor’s Note: The Gallup poll showing 53% of Americans pro-life, and also no gender gap, is more accurate than the Pew survey).
The finding that has received the most attention, however, is that in both the United States and in 27 of the 34 European countries surveyed, men and women do not differ significantly in their attitudes toward abortion.
Public-opinion scholars have long known that men and women have fairly similar opinions about abortion. Women tend to be more religious than men and have more conservative views on sexual issues. Both religiosity and social conservatism are strongly correlated with opposition to abortion. In fact, three polls conducted during summer 2013 found that women were actually more likely than men to support a federal 20-week abortion ban.
