Of all the issues roiling the ongoing culture wars, abortion is both the most intimate and the most common. Almost half of American women have terminated at least one pregnancy, and millions more Americans of both sexes have helped them, as partners, parents, health-care workers, counselors, and friends. Collectively, it would seem, Americans have quite a bit of knowledge and experience of abortion.
Abortion over the last 10 years has become much more accepted and common then in recent years. Prior to Roe v. Wade in 1973, abortion was illegal in the U.S. with the exception of four states, and only under very limited circumstances, such as life endangerment. Women who wanted to terminate their pregnancy often sought illegal, back-alley abortions. On January 22, 1973, the landmark U. S. Supreme Court decision in Roe v. Wade legalized abortion in the United States. Argued by attorney Sarah Weddington, Roe v. Wade challenged the constitutionality of a Texas law that prohibited abortion except to save a woman's life. In a 7-2 ruling, the court ruled that the right to privacy extended to a woman's decision whether or not to terminate her pregnancy.
In my research I have found that Americans' support for abortion rights in a general sense has remained at a slim majority for the last decade but shifts radically in favor or against when individual circumstances are raised. I also found that the public's opinion on certain questions about abortion can be strongly affected by how the questions are asked. While looking over numerous charts it was obvious to see that since the 1960s support for legalized abortions has increased appreciably. A recent study by the National Opinion Research Center showed that the approval of abortion rights grew rapidly from 1965 until 1973-1976 (Tables 1 and 2). For example, approval of allowing women to have an abortion when there was "a strong chance of serious defect in the baby" increased from 55% in 1965 to 83% in 1974.
