& Research Shows1

& Research Shows: Abortion

& Research Shows: Abortion? Who is for it and who is against it?

Marquita Ashby

SOWK 300 Section 1

McArthuar

March 12, 2010

 Ashby2

Abstract

Every generation has a hot button issue that brings out the beast in human beings in our society. First
the sex revolution, free love and anti- war, then the equal rights movement which lead to the woman’s
right revolution. During those times SEX, WAR, RACE, and INDEPENDENT WOMEN were subjects of
taboo. Now in this ever changing generation abortion is of one of our frontline issues. People of every
race, age, and background can’t seem to find common ground on the topic which surrounds the “killing
of a human being, no matter how small and undeveloped” or the “procedure of removing an unwanted
fetus, no matter the situation or feeling, it’s your body.” Which side do you choose?
 Ashby3

Introduction

I. Description of Problem
In my research I took on the subject of abortion and how the population of
America really feels about this social issue. Before explaining the variables that were
used to measure different responses, let’s get some background on the subject.
Abortion is defined as a procedure that medically removes the human fetus. Many
think that since the legalization of abortion in the mid eighties that it was newly
exposed. But no, abortions have been on the underground scene for years before it
was legalized. The risk and the way the fetus was removed was causing such extreme
health issues and sometimes even death to the women who took place in the high risk
hanger removal of an unwanted pregnancy. You would think that after the courts
made a final decision that the debate would be over. Little did they know it was only
the beginning, the topic of abortion brings up so many different what if’s and
different scenarios that no one wants to touch the subject. The biggest debate is if a
barely developed baby even is considered an human being. Since there is so many
different opinions and factors that makes up an individual mind on a two week old
fetus (tissue) actually being alive since there is no heart. Both sides, pro choice and
pro life have some amazing thought provoking arguments that will have you stuck in
the middle just like the majority of America.
II. Attributes to be measured
Now that I have elaborated on the background on my survey topic I can go
onto further explanation of my own personal research and data that was collected.
First I took a hollisctic poll on the percentage of people who are for abortion or
against by asking the question, “Do you think abortion should be illegal”. After
receiving my foundation in this research I then broke it up into six more
categories which are, region, gender, age, income, educational background, and
by a measure of different classification. I decided to evaluate these attributes
because they are the basic features that usually have a play on a person opinions.
III. Hypotheses, expectations, or research questions( Univariate ,
Bivariate , Multivariate)
As I stated before when picking the attributes that I will differentiate to measure
against, I wanted to use factors that are for one, usually used in other major successful
surveys and for two, the attributes that I listed above are usually severe enough to make
or break a person opinion about a subject matter. For example the amount of money a
person makes can be a big mind swayer, because in all honesty without money your
opinion and your voice is less likely to be heard, especially in our country. When
presented with my problem I automatically thought about gender and age.

IV. Rationale
 Ashby4

I believe that age and gender especially have a factor in my particular topic
because abortions first hand affects women and though sometimes men are affected
second hand by the decision and the end results of abortions they rarely are. So thus
this leads their opinion to usually one of bias or one of no concern with taking in the
emotional, financial, and physical affects it has on a woman. I also am certain that age
is a key factor because depending on the respondent age would actually determine if
they have full knowledge on the subject, if they are first hand effected, and
sometimes the maturity level ties to the age.
 Ashby5

Results
Table 1

Sex of the Respondents

Sex Frequency Percent

Female 29 29%

Male 71 71%

Table 2

Male Yes or NO

Response Frequency Percent

Yes

No
 Ashby6

Table 3

Women Yes or No

Response Frequency Percent

Yes

No

Table 4

Overall

Response Frequency Percent

Yes 61 39%

No 96 61%
 Ashby7

List of Graphs

Univariate Graph 1 Sex of the Respondents

Univariate Graph 2 Age of the Respondents

Univariate Graph 3 Income of the Respondents

Univariate Graph 4 Education of the Respondents

Graph 1 Overall Percentage

Graph 2 Region: Coast to Coast

Graph 3 Gender

Graph 4 Age

Graph 5 Income

Graph 6 Education

Graph 7 Classification
 Ashby8

The graph above summarizes and puts into percentage of the respondents beliefs. The visual
shows that out of a hundred percent more than majority expressed that they belief abortion shouldn’t
be illegal, sixty- one percent. A low percentage of thirty nine percent expressed that they agree that
abortion should be legal. Since the data above is not one of large resources the thoughts expressed can
not be concluded to be all that accurate. But based just off of the information provided above the
majority are for pro choice.
 Ashby9

Since the survey was listed on the internet, it was on display for everyone to see even
internationally. Four major continents took place in the survey which were, North America, South
America, Africa, And Europe. These four regions are all from different cultures, lifestyles, and values.
Shockingly I found that even in countries were premaritial sex is one of high offense, the people in these
countries were voting, “no abortion shouldn’t be illegal”. Which poses a much greater question, if all
these people are pro- choice, then maybe the values and lifestyle these people live are not one of free
will. As in America, where we have the freedom to do basically anything that we want, but yet it seems
like most of the respondents were pro-life.
 Ashby10

“A males voice versus a woman’s whisper” this is an old quote that was used to describe the
continous strife between a man and a woman. And with any hot button problem that truth of that quote
increases, even if the issues doesn’t directly affect a man. In the graph above it shows that seventy one
percent are pro choice and twenty nine percent are pro life. Out of these two percentages men seemed
to have voted more than women. Which is alarming especially since the topic is one of a woman’s body.
In the yes, and no categories male respondent completely blew out the female voters.
 Ashby11

Whenever you take a survey one of the first things that you will have to list is your age. Every
researcher wants to know how old you are to know if your response is affected by your time in life. Age
plays a major part because you the subject matter may be a major relation or little relevance to you
depending on that. The younger the age range shows a higher agreeance to abortions and the older the
person gets the number drops and they are more in the pro-life category.

In our country money is pretty much the key to power and happiness, well this is what they teach us. All
 Ashby12

our values evolve around having money and how to obtain the maximum amount of money. Our free
programs that help educate the next generation are ran be the millionaires tax money. These programs
and places that are located in the communities are usually, matter of fact only, are located in places of
poverty and low income. Why? Because these are the places where families are broken up and there is
no one to teach the youth. The higher the income the higher percentage of a greater life for that youth.
You will notice that the lower the income that is being brought the higher the agreeance with abortion
not being legal. The reason why is because these people are the ones with the higher pregnancy rate.

As with abortion relating to education, you can also tie that into age. The highest peak on the
chart that deals with pro choice are high school students. People who can’t be no older than nineteen
years old. These high school students are the ones who are just becoming sexually active and immature
to the full coonsquences of sex. After high school there is a steep decline in the prochoice side, which is
a shock to me because between the high school and associates degree level is the freshmen and
sophomore classification. Just like with age the higher the degree and status quo education wise the
lower the percentages got
 Ashby13

The graph above I believe is a visual and vibrant way to break the respondents up into social
categories. Im not quite sure why the categories are broken up into ninjas, cowboys, and pirates. But
regardless of that factor. The pirates percentage is one of high standing in the pro choice category. The
ninjas placing in the middle and the cowboys placing lastly. I believe the pirates are represented as the
democrats, the ninjas as the middle of the road, and the cowboys as republicans.