The abortion campaign

442 Pages·2017·14.65 MB·English

by  Christine Middleton

The Abortion Campaign: A Study of
Moral Reform and
Statu~ Prote~t
~
Alan Henry Clarke~ B.A., B.Phil.
The~i~ ~ubmitted to the University of Nottingham for the degree
of Doctor of Philo~ophy, October 1984.
CONTENTS
List of Tables
List of
~ij:':ures
Abstract
Acknowledgements
INTRODUCTION PAGE
PART ONE
ABORTION LAW REFORM AND THE SOCIOLOGY OF SOCIAL MOVEMENTS
CHAPTER I Abortion, Parliament and the Pressure Groups 1
The law prior to 1967 2
Reform 4
Opposition 11
Defence 17
Official committees 21
Summary 28
CHAPTER II The Sociology of Social Movements: A
Study of Moral Protest
The American Temperance Movement 33
Pornography, permissiveness and moral
protest 43
CHAPTER III The Anti-abortion Movement as a Moral 59
Crusade
The anti-abortion campaign: a study of 64
moral protest
Cultural fundamentalism 65
Assimilative and coercive reform 72
Anti-aboriton reform strategies 75
The case against abortion: summary. 87
Summary 91
CHAPTER IV The Roots of Social Activism 93
Relative deprivation 94
Status inconsistency 101
Moral indignation 107
PART TWO
PAGE
'WITNESS ONE MILLION' AND 'A WOMAN'S RIGHT TO
CHOOSE': A STUDY OF PARTICIPANTS IN THE ABORTION
CAMPAIGN
CHAPTER V Research Strategy and Tactics 119
Aims and objectives 121
Organisation of a research project 122
1. Literature survey and background study 122
2. Exploratory fieldwork 124
3. Questionnaire design 129
4. Data collection 133
5. Methods of data analysis 134
CHAPTER VI Group Profiles I: Sociographic Data 135
Main characteristics of respondents
1. Age 135
2. Sex 138
3. Marital status 139
4. Religious denomination 140
5. Social class 141
6. Political party preference 148
7. Educational background 149
Summary 150
CHAPTER VII Group Profiles II: Attitudinal Data 152
CHAPTER VIII A Study of Active Participants in the Anti- 172
abortior... Campaign
Cultural fundamentalism 173
Orientation to reform 180
Expressive politics 188
CHAPTER IX Status Politics, Status Defence and the Anti 203
abortion Movement
Gusfield's theory of status defence: an 221
appraisal
PAGE
CHAPTER X Feminist Politics, Status Protest and the 242
Pro-abortion Campaign
Early twentieth century feminism and the 253
abortion issue
The Women's Liberation Movement and the 256
abortion issue
Abortion: discrimination and quality 261
Abortion: oppression and liberation 265
Summary 275
CHAPTER XI Feminist Campaigns for 'Abortion on Demand' 278
Italy 278
France 300
United States of America 313
Discussion 317
CHAPTER XII A Study of Active Participants in the 325
Pro-abortion Campaign
Individual mobilisation 328
The case for 'abortion on demand' 330
Response to anti-abortionists 336
Summary 353
CONCLUSION 355
Appendices 364
1. Abortion Statistics 1968-1981 365
2. James Whitef's Abortion (Amendment) 366
Bill 1975
3. William Benyon's Abortion (Amendment) 375
Bill 1977
4. John Corrie's Abortion (Amendment) 384
Bill 1979
5. Introductory letters and questionnaire 390
6. Registrar General's occupational categories 403
7. Membership of Co-ordinating Committee in 404
Defence of the 1967 Abortion Act
Bibliography 405
Official documents 424
List of Tables.
Table Page
1 . Age distribution of respondents. 136
2. Age distribution of campaign members. 138
3. Sex of campaign members. 139
4. Marital status of pressure group members. 139
5. Denominational attachments of anti-abortion
respondents. 140
6. National Abortion Campaign respondents' response
to question 11. 141
7. Respondents' distribution by Registrar General's
social classes.
l~
8. Respondents' self rated social class. 146
9. Political party preference of pressure group
members, 149
10. Educational background of respondents. 150
11. Traditional family ideology scale scores of anti
abortion and pro-abortion groups in the form
of a grouped frequency distribution. 153
12. Dogmatism scale scores of anti-abortion and pro-
abortion groups in the form of a grouped
frequency distribution. 153
13. Politico-economic ideology scale scores of anti
abortion and pro-abortion groups in the form
of a grouped frequency distribution. 153
14. Conventionalism scale scores of anti-abortion and
pro-abortion groups in the form of a grouped
frequency distribution. 154
15. Status concern scale scores of anti-abortion and
pro-abortion groups in the form of a grouped
frequency distribution. 154
16. Summary of attitude scale scores obtained by anti-
abortion and pro-abortion groups on the five
attitude scales. 161
17. Mann-Whitney U test applied to attitude scale
data. 165
List of Tables (continued).
Table Page
18. Responses to the statement: 'The social,
economic and political troubles currently
facing this country are symptomatic of a
moral crisis'. 174
19. 'Previous Abortion (Amendment) Bills have been
unsuccessful, if Benyon's Bill also fails
to bring about a change in the law, will
you feel that your participation in the
anti-abortion campaign will have been wasted. ' WI
20. Reasons mentioned by respondents as to why their
participation in the anti-abortion campaign
had not been a waste of time. 192
21. Respondents' personal ranking of reasons why the
Abortion Law needs repealing. 199
22. Squared correlation coefficients (r2) for three
standard socio-economic indicators. 206
23. Anti-abortion and pro-abortion group members'
responses to four items from Kaufman's status
concern scale. 213
List of Figures.
Figure Par;e
1. Age distribution of respondents in ten year
age bands. 137
2. Social class distribution of respondents by
Registrar Generalfs classification of
occupations. 145
3. Respondentsf self rated social class. 147
4. Frequency graph showing the traditional family
ideology scale scores for anti-abortion and
pro-abortion campaign groups. 155
5. Frequency graph showing the dogmatism scale
scores for anti-abortion and pro-abortion
campaign groups. 156
6. Frequency graph showing the politico-economic
scale scores for anti-abortion and pro
abortion campaign groups. 157
7. Frequency graph showing the conventionalism
scale scores for anti-abortion and pro
abortion campaign groups. 158
8. Frequency graph showing the status concern
scale scores for anti-abortion and pro
abortion campaign groups. 159
9. Furthest neighbour analysis of attitudes. 168
10. Furthest neighbour analysis of attitudes -
TFI variables. 169
11. Furthest neighbour analysis of attitudes -
DOG variables. 170
12. Furthest neighbour analysis of attitudes -
CON variables. 171
13. Histogram to illustrate the proportion of
respondents giving first ranking to
various reasons why Abortion Law should
be repealed. 200
Abstract
This study focuses on three major pressure groups involved
in the abortion campaign, namely, the two anti-abortion
organisations 'Life' and the Society for the Protection of the
Unborn Child, and the National Abortion Campaign, a grassroots
organisation which supports the campaign for 'A Woman's Right
to Choose'.
Participants in moral reform campaigns have been described
as status discontents motivated by a desire to enhance or protect
a declining status position (Gusfield, 1963; Zurcher and
Kirkpatrick, 1976). Gusfield's original theory of moral reform
as a mode of status politics contains four main theoretical
issues which are outlined and discussed under the following
headings: cultural fundamentalism, orientation to reform,
expressive politics and status defence. These issues are
examined within the context of the anti-abortion campaign.
From an examination of pressure group literature, a study of
campaign rhetoric and an analysis of questionnaire and interview
data obtained from sixty-four active anti-abortion campaigners
a number of conclusions are drawn. Firstly, cultural
fundamentalism identified as a feature in the anti-abortionist
i~
perpective. Secondly, assimilative and coercive reform
strategies are evident in both the campaign literature and the
individual accounts of campaign participants.
Thirdly, the data do not support the notion of symbolic crusades
as a form of expressive politics, indeed campaigners can be seen
to be instrumentally oriented. Finally, although status
inconsistency is observed this is not a source of moral
indignation. This supports the view that moral indignation can
be a rational response to the violation of deeply cherished
values (Wallis, 1977). Cultural defence rather than status
defence is identified as the force behind individual mobilisation.
This finding confirms recent research on moral crusades (Bland
and Wallis, 1977; Leahy, 1982 and Wood and Hughes, 1984).
The influence of the women's movement in the campaign to
defend the 1967 Abortion Act is assessed and the feminist
interpretation of abortion as a critical indicator of women's
status in society is discussed. Data are presented from a
study of forty-two pro-abortion supporters.
Acknowled[ements
I would like to express my gr~teful th~ks to my supervisor
Professor S.J. Gould, formerly He~d of the Sociology Dep~rtment,
for his general guidance, helpful comments and patient
encour~gement. Thanks ~re ~lso due to the present He~d of
Department, Mr. Michael King, for his support. I am
~lso
indebted to Dr. Trevor N. Department of Microbiology,
Bry~nt,
University of Surrey who gave me general advice on computing
m~tters and introduced me to cluster analysis.
I am especially grateful to members of the Society for the
Protection of the Unborn Child and the 'Life' group for
~llowing
me to attend their local committee meetings and
camp~ign
discussion groups. May I also members of both these
th~nk
groups, and supporters of the Abortion Campaign, for
N~tional
completing my questionnaire granting me personal interviews.
~nd
A word of thanks is also due to Carole and Amanda Gorwyn
B~rlow
for their expert typing.
I wish to thank my wife Christine for her constant
Fin~lly,
support and
encour~gement.