Thanks for this thorough analysis, Joshua. Abortion on demand was not part of early feminism, but it was a policy of Bolsheviks who wanted young women in the military and the factories, to bolster the Soviet Union's rapid industrialisation. That could have been achieved by punishing men who used women for sex, but the regime chose to apply the costs of unwanted pregnancy to women instead. The authoritarian Left is essentially a top-down, men's rights movement which guarantees access to women's bodies without parental responsibilities.
Figure 9 in this article is especially interesting because it shows divergence in public opinion at two specific points in history: in 1990 after the collapse of European communism, when the Left switched allegiance to postmodernism including 'sex-positive feminism', and accelerating in 2010 after the credit crunch, when corporations abandoned their notional support for majority democratic principles to become 'woke' vanguards of political culture.
The 2010-ish corporate championship of cultural-left viewpoints does fit the timeline of trends in public opinion, especially since the trend occurs exclusively among Democrat-leaning voters and, by 2010, the Democratic Party was well on its way to shedding its working-class roots and becoming the party of the professional-managerial class.
The collapse of European communism and the realignment that followed is an interesting point I hadn’t really thought about. I’m not sure why the 1990s would also have a decline in support for abortion-on-demand in the U.S. at the same time the Big Sort divergence was occurring, though, other than blowback to the new postmodernist allegiance.
The more I learn, the more I agree with your main thesis. The lack of abortion advocacy among first-wave feminism, the opposition to abortion among the early birth control movement in the Anglosphere (and other places), the suspicious number of male patrons and organizers in the 1960s abortion movement -- it does seem as though the association between abortion advocacy and feminism is a _post hoc_ historical revision. On the other hand, Margaret Sanger observed a lack of birth control practice and abundant referral to abortion during her visit to the Soviet Union during the interwar period, and the post-war decades were a time when it was quite fashionable to be Marxist in Western academia.
Last I checked, abortion rates in Russia per woman were some of the highest in the world. That country, not known for its feminist thought, has long used abortion as a first line of birth control rather than using contraception more widely. Which is consistent with a former atheist state that places no value on individual lives.
My guess on the decline in support for abortion among Republicans is that it was caused by pro-life advocacy by churches, a separate issue to the rights-based demand from Democrats. I believe your graph Figure 9 shows that Republican support for abortion was dropping from the 1970's to the 1980's, several years ahead of Democrats increasing their support for it. That could indicate that Democrats were also reacting against pro-life initiatives gaining traction.
The more than 50% support for abortion by Republicans in cases of low income during the 1970's shown in Figure 9 might correlate with concerns about 'welfare mothers'. Conversely, support from Democrats dropped to a low in the Reagan years, possibly for the same reason.
Indeed, the abortion rate in Russia is an outlier compared with Europe and North America, though it is comparable to other parts of the world such as China, Southeast Asia, Sub-Saharan Africa, the Caribbean, etc.
This is after abortion rates in Russia have actually decreased. It's still around 45 per year per 1,000 women compared with the median for the region of about 12.
The phenomenon you describe among Republicans is accurate. The Roe and Doe opinions led to the creation of pro-life advocacy groups. Also during this time period the Republican party was shifting away from the Rockefeller Republican platform of the Ford-Nixon era to become the home of the conservative coalition in the U.S. during the 1980s.
Thanks for this thorough analysis, Joshua. Abortion on demand was not part of early feminism, but it was a policy of Bolsheviks who wanted young women in the military and the factories, to bolster the Soviet Union's rapid industrialisation. That could have been achieved by punishing men who used women for sex, but the regime chose to apply the costs of unwanted pregnancy to women instead. The authoritarian Left is essentially a top-down, men's rights movement which guarantees access to women's bodies without parental responsibilities.
Figure 9 in this article is especially interesting because it shows divergence in public opinion at two specific points in history: in 1990 after the collapse of European communism, when the Left switched allegiance to postmodernism including 'sex-positive feminism', and accelerating in 2010 after the credit crunch, when corporations abandoned their notional support for majority democratic principles to become 'woke' vanguards of political culture.
Thanks for the comment.
The 2010-ish corporate championship of cultural-left viewpoints does fit the timeline of trends in public opinion, especially since the trend occurs exclusively among Democrat-leaning voters and, by 2010, the Democratic Party was well on its way to shedding its working-class roots and becoming the party of the professional-managerial class.
The collapse of European communism and the realignment that followed is an interesting point I hadn’t really thought about. I’m not sure why the 1990s would also have a decline in support for abortion-on-demand in the U.S. at the same time the Big Sort divergence was occurring, though, other than blowback to the new postmodernist allegiance.
The more I learn, the more I agree with your main thesis. The lack of abortion advocacy among first-wave feminism, the opposition to abortion among the early birth control movement in the Anglosphere (and other places), the suspicious number of male patrons and organizers in the 1960s abortion movement -- it does seem as though the association between abortion advocacy and feminism is a _post hoc_ historical revision. On the other hand, Margaret Sanger observed a lack of birth control practice and abundant referral to abortion during her visit to the Soviet Union during the interwar period, and the post-war decades were a time when it was quite fashionable to be Marxist in Western academia.
Last I checked, abortion rates in Russia per woman were some of the highest in the world. That country, not known for its feminist thought, has long used abortion as a first line of birth control rather than using contraception more widely. Which is consistent with a former atheist state that places no value on individual lives.
My guess on the decline in support for abortion among Republicans is that it was caused by pro-life advocacy by churches, a separate issue to the rights-based demand from Democrats. I believe your graph Figure 9 shows that Republican support for abortion was dropping from the 1970's to the 1980's, several years ahead of Democrats increasing their support for it. That could indicate that Democrats were also reacting against pro-life initiatives gaining traction.
The more than 50% support for abortion by Republicans in cases of low income during the 1970's shown in Figure 9 might correlate with concerns about 'welfare mothers'. Conversely, support from Democrats dropped to a low in the Reagan years, possibly for the same reason.
Indeed, the abortion rate in Russia is an outlier compared with Europe and North America, though it is comparable to other parts of the world such as China, Southeast Asia, Sub-Saharan Africa, the Caribbean, etc.
I can't seem to paste an image into a comment, but Figure 3 in this paper shows it graphically: https://gh.bmj.com/content/7/3/e007151
This is after abortion rates in Russia have actually decreased. It's still around 45 per year per 1,000 women compared with the median for the region of about 12.
The phenomenon you describe among Republicans is accurate. The Roe and Doe opinions led to the creation of pro-life advocacy groups. Also during this time period the Republican party was shifting away from the Rockefeller Republican platform of the Ford-Nixon era to become the home of the conservative coalition in the U.S. during the 1980s.