[quote]
It is often assumed that women support abortion rights while men seek to deny them – when Jeremy Hunt suggested reducing the legal abortion limit to 12 weeks, for example, The Telegraph remarked that his comments "could have an impact on the Conservatives’ attempts to boost their support among female voters". That makes it all the more surprising that so much of the abuse directed at Josie Cunningham, monstered for apparently considering an abortion in order to appear on Big Brother, came from women. But is the assumption correct in the first place?
Polling on abortion, as highlighted by UKPollingReport back in 2012, is pretty clear when it comes to the attitudes of men and women:
“Polls consistently show … that women are more likely than men to support a reduction on the abortion limit. In the 2011 YouGov poll 28% of men supported a reduction, 46% of women did. In the 2012 YouGov poll 24% of men supported a reduction, 49% of women did. In the Angus Reid poll 35% of men supported a reduction in the limit, 59% of women did. In the ICM poll 45% of men supported a reduction to 20 weeks, 59% of women did.”
Drilling down into the numbers doesn’t reveal anything untoward. YouGov’s 2012 poll suggests that slightly more men than women want to ban abortion completely (8% vs 5%), but the result isn’t statistically very significant, and the effect disappears in the Angus Reid poll (the question isn't asked in ICM's). The YouGov numbers are lower than those found by Angus Reid and ICM, but the gender differences are still consistent.
Other polls have appeared since that article, and they show the same thing. A 2013 YouGov poll on behalf of the University of Lancaster found 26% of men supporting a reduction or ban, versus 43% of women. Interestingly, 53% of women in that survey believed that life begins at conception, against 35% of men – not exactly "every sperm is sacred", but not too far off.
The difference even holds up when you poll Catholics. A second University of Lancaster survey carried out last autumn found that 40% of Catholic men supported a reduction or ban, against 57% of Catholic women. Exactly the same difference in percentage points that they found among the general population.
Single polls are always dubious of course, and small changes from poll to poll don’t usually mean a lot – they’re just random noise. The failure of many journalists to understand that is the reason we get headlines every week saying things like "Labour up 3 points" or "Labour down 2 points" instead of more accurate but less interesting ones such as, “voters still think basically the same thing they did three month ago.”
We’re not talking about small differences here or individual polls here though – we have multiple polls from multiple different polling companies, commissioned by a range of different interests over a decade. Sure there’s some noise and some variation over time, but a big difference remains no matter what. It looks pretty settled to me.
[b]So around 24 to 35% of men want to put more restrictions on abortion, against 43 to 59% of women – a consistent gap of around 20 percentage points. That raises some pretty big implications, the most obvious being that if it were left to women to vote on the issue, with men out of the picture, there’s a good chance that the result would be in favour of restricting abortion. On the flip side, if only men voted, they’d almost certainly vote in favour of women’s reproductive rights. [/b]
[/quote]
[url]http://www.theguardian.com/science/the-lay-scientist/2014/apr/30/why-are-women-more-opposed-to-abortion[/url]
Based men letting women know what's best for them.
I'd guess it's because it's a potentially traumatic procedure the women have to go to.
Women have mothers' instincts?
my thoughts on it would be that girls/women have the sanctity of motherhood and the idea that a womans role is that of motherhood hammered into them from an early age far more than men do. and also i think the whole 'slut shaming' culture that women have to deal with makes them far more sensitive towards the issue of abortion considering it's kind of regarded as something loose women do
Probably because the women that currently make up the actual voting majority (young people don't tend to vote as often as older people), are more traditional and probably religiously motivated as well. It'd be interesting to break this up via age group to really see, since religious plays a huge role in the opinion one has on abortion.
[QUOTE=Lachz0r;44684548]my thoughts on it would be that girls/women have the sanctity of motherhood and the idea that a womans role is that of motherhood hammered into them from an early age far more than men do. and also i think the whole 'slut shaming' culture that women have to deal with makes them far more sensitive towards the issue of abortion considering it's kind of regarded as something loose women do[/QUOTE]
Yes, certain women clearly have an opinion not matching yours only because it is tyranically indoctrinated into them.
Geninuely quite surprised, and a little disheartened here. I wish more of us realized that we don't get decide things like this for other people!
I am 100% pro-choice, but is abortion still quite a taboo thing for a lot of people?
Women have always been more conservative than men. Feminism may have changed that, though, as it is largely - in practice - a statist movement.
This shouldn't be surprising. Women have a very strong, natural inclination towards their own children. Men have a lot less strong of an inclination. The results are perfectly predictable.
[QUOTE=Lachz0r;44684632]yeah you're right actually, maybe it's because abortion is wrong rather than societal attitudes towards women that have abortions.
[editline]1st May 2014[/editline]
nah it's directly not indirectly :)[/QUOTE]
...So women who disagree with you are incapable of forming their own opinions?
[QUOTE=download;44684617]If you read the article they tell you a single small survey really isn't accurate and easy to manipulate[/QUOTE]
Read the next few lines.
"Single polls are always dubious of course, and small changes from poll to poll don’t usually mean a lot – they’re just random noise. The failure of many journalists to understand that is the reason we get headlines every week saying things like "Labour up 3 points" or "Labour down 2 points" instead of more accurate but less interesting ones such as, “voters still think basically the same thing they did three month ago.”
[b]We’re not talking about small differences here or individual polls here though – we have multiple polls from multiple different polling companies, commissioned by a range of different interests over a decade.[/b] Sure there’s some noise and some variation over time, but a big difference remains no matter what. It looks pretty settled to me."
[QUOTE=Explosions;44684652]This shouldn't be surprising. Women have a very strong, natural inclination towards their own children. Men have a lot less strong of an inclination. The results are perfectly predictable.[/QUOTE]
i have alot of friends who are fathers and frankly i disagree with this entirely
[QUOTE=Lachz0r;44684781]i have alot of friends who are fathers and frankly i disagree with this entirely[/QUOTE]
You think that fathers, on average, have stronger feelings for their children than mothers?
[QUOTE=Explosions;44684796]You think that fathers, on average, have stronger feelings for their children than mothers?[/QUOTE]
i disagree that they have less strong feelings
It's alot easier to say "YOU have to do this" than "I have to do this".
[QUOTE=Lachz0r;44684705]so there is no such thing as societal attitudes having an effect on peoples opinions?[/QUOTE]
Societal attitudes, however, affect everyone, whether they are for or against abortions.
[QUOTE=Lachz0r;44684815]except obviously they would affect certain groups more than others[/QUOTE]
Like women, what with their malleable hysterical brains. Luckily there's men like you to tell us when we're being manipulated :)
[QUOTE=lazyguy;44684834]Like women, what with their malleable hysterical brains. Luckily there's men like you to tell us when we're being manipulated :)[/QUOTE]
Do you [I]really[/I] have to purposefully misinterpret his post like that?
[QUOTE=lazyguy;44684834]Like women, what with their malleable hysterical brains. Luckily there's men like you to tell us when we're being manipulated :)[/QUOTE]
well, women are a certain group are they not? and are affected by certain issues just like men would be affected more by different issues.
[QUOTE=Explosions;44684652]This shouldn't be surprising. Women have a very strong, natural inclination towards their own children. Men have a lot less strong of an inclination. The results are perfectly predictable.[/QUOTE]
I really think that is a "gut-feeling" generalization that you can't substantiate.
women inherently are more emotional
[QUOTE=CyberHawk;44685012]women inherently are more emotional[/QUOTE]
What does that statement have to do with anything?
Sorry but emotional response doesn't account for an almost 20% change in opinion.
[QUOTE=Explosions;44684652]This shouldn't be surprising. Women have a very strong, natural inclination towards their own children. Men have a lot less strong of an inclination. The results are perfectly predictable.[/QUOTE]
Please, I take care of kids as a profession and care for these kids who aren't my own more than their dead beat mothers and fathers ever would. I'm going to wager how much someone cares for their children is more on a person to person basis rather than by their gender
Sorry, you need to Log In to post a reply to this thread.
