Large numbers of Americans morally opposed to abortion would still help friend or family member seeking one: study

A new analysis of both public opinion data and in-depth interviews shows that a majority of Americans morally opposed to abortion would still help a friend or family member. These views are similar to those held by Americans who do not think abortion is immoral.

Many are willing to or have helped a close friend or family member get a legal abortion, including those who are morally opposed to it, according to Sarah Cowan, a professor of sociology at New York University and the lead author of the article. They are not. They are at a moral crossroads because of their opposition to abortion and their inclination to support people they care about.

The publication of the study came after the passage of a Texas law that allows people in the U.S. to file lawsuits against anyone in their state who aided or abetted abortion.

The types of assistance Americans are willing to give varies according to a study by researchers including Stuart Perrett at NYU.

Americans are more willing to extend emotional support to a close friend or family member of an abortion than they are to help finance the procedure or its related costs, according to the authors. People who are morally opposed to abortion may use a strategy called Refusing to contribute directly to the procedure to mitigate their conflicting values.

They came up with a term that captures the willingness to provide help when it conflicts with personal values.

The question of what we do when a request for help from friends or family members invokes conflicting values is a common one.

The team sought to better understand how we navigate our desire to help others when doing so may run counter to our values. They focused on abortion because Americans hold strong views on the issue, and because it is a common procedure and requires help from loved ones.

The data from the General Social Survey and the interviews from the National Abortion Attitudes Study were looked at by the researchers.

The data showed the following:

• Overall, 88 percent of Americans said they would provide emotional support and 72 percent would help with arrangements, such as a ride or childcare, while over half would help pay for ancillary costs—and around a quarter would help pay for the abortion itself.
• Of those morally opposed to abortion, 76 percent said they would offer emotional support—compared to 96 percent of those who are not morally opposed or who say their view depends on the circumstances.
• However, there were much greater differences among other forms of support. Only 6 percent of those morally opposed would help a friend or relative pay for the procedure, compared to the 54 percent who are not morally opposed.
• Smaller distinctions were found among attitudes on making arrangements for an abortion (e.g., giving a ride to a clinic). Over 40 percent of those morally opposed said they would help a friend or close relative in this instance, compared to nearly 80 percent who hold an "it depends" view and 91 percent who are not morally opposed.

Interviews conducted in different regions around the U.S. show how Americans who engage in benevolence make sense to themselves. Three logics dominate: one, a view that friends or family members are deserving of help despite their flaws; two, that friends and family are not an exception; and third, that friends or family make their own moral decisions. The researchers named all of the three logics, whichfacilitated discordant benevolence.

Bruce says that greater levels of help amplify feelings of inner conflict for Americans who are morally opposed to abortion. We found that many will help friends and family, but we need to moderate how much and why.

More information: Sarah K. Cowan, Discordant benevolence: How and why people help others in the face of conflicting values, Science Advances (2022). DOI: 10.1126/sciadv.abj5851. www.science.org/doi/10.1126/sciadv.abj5851 Journal information: Science Advances Citation: Large numbers of Americans morally opposed to abortion would still help friend or family member seeking one: study (2022, February 18) retrieved 18 February 2022 from https://phys.org/news/2022-02-large-americans-morally-opposed-abortion.html This document is subject to copyright. Apart from any fair dealing for the purpose of private study or research, no part may be reproduced without the written permission. The content is provided for information purposes only.