Since socialism’s decline, abortion has become a divisive political issue in East Central Europe, just as it is in the United States. Questionnaires administered to college students in Croatia, the Czech Republic, Slovenia, and the United States between 1991 and 1994 assessed the importance of religious identification, degree of religious feelings and participation, desired number of children, and gender role attitudes as predictors of approval of abortion for reasons of personal choice. Multiple regression indicated that these variables best predicted level of approval of abortion in Slovenia. The strong link between gender role attitude and abortion approval that emerged in the Slovene 1993 data is discussed in relation to the changing social and political contexts.
Get full access to this article
View all access options for this article.
References
1.
Beere, C. A. (1990). Gender roles: A handbook of tests and measures. Westport, CT: Greenwood.
2.
Drakulić, S. (1993). Women and the new democracy in the former Yugoslavia. In N. Funk & M. Mueller (Eds.), Gender politics and post-communism (pp. 123-130). New York: Routledge.
3.
Ebaugh, H.R.F. , & Haney, A. (1985). Abortion attitudes in the United States: Continuities and discontinuities. In P. Sachdev (Ed.), Perspectives on abortion (pp. 163-177). Metuchen, NJ: Scarecrow.
4.
Einhorn, B. (1993). Cinderella goes to market. London: Verso.
5.
Finlay, B. A. (1985). Correlates of abortion attitudes and implications for change. In P. Sachdev (Ed.), Perspectives on abortion (pp. 178-190). Metuchen, NJ: Scarecrow.
6.
Frieze, I. , & Ferligoj, A. (1995). Evidence for changing gender-role attitudes in Slovenia in comparison to the United States. In A. Ferligoj & A. Kramberger (Eds.), Contributions to methodology and statistics (pp. 247-260). Ljubljana, Slovenia: University of Ljubljana.
7.
Funk, N. (1993). Introduction: Women and post-communism. In N. Funk & M. Mueller (Eds.), Gender politics and post-communism (pp. 1-14). New York: Routledge.
8.
Gibbons, J. L. , Hamby, B. A., & Dennis, W. D. (1997). Researching gender-role ideologies internationally and cross-culturally. Psychology of Women Quarterly, 21, 151-170.
9.
Granberg, D. , & Granberg, B. W. (1985). Social bases of support and opposition to legalized abortion. In P. Sachdev (Ed.), Perspectives on abortion (pp. 191-204). Metuchen, NJ: Scarecrow.
10.
Hauser, E. , Heyns, B., & Mansbridge, J. (1993). Feminism in the interstices of politics and culture: Poland in transition. In N. Funk & M. Mueller (Eds.), Gender politics and postcommunism (pp. 257-273). New York: Routledge.
11.
Hayes, B. (1995). The impact of religious identification on political attitudes: An international comparison. Sociology of Religion, 56, 177-194.
12.
Heitlinger, A. (1993). The impact of the transition from communism on the status of women in the Czech and Slovak republics. In N. Funk & M. Mueller (Eds.), Gender politics and postcommunism (pp. 95-108). New York: Routledge.
13.
Kelley, J. , Evans, M., & Headey, B. (1993). Moral reasoning and political conflict: The abortion controversy. British Journal of Sociology, 44, 589-612.
14.
Mežnariċ, S. , & Ule, M. (1994). Women in Croatia and Slovenia: A case of delayed modernization. In M. Reuschemeyer (Ed.), Women in the politics of postcommunist Eastern Europe (pp. 153-170). Armonk, NY: M. E. Sharpe.
15.
Mohr, J. C. (1985). The historical character of abortion in the United States through World War II. In P. Sachdev (Ed.), Perspectives on abortion (pp. 3-32). Metuchen, NJ: Scarecrow.
16.
Morinaga, Y. , Frieze, I. H., & Ferligoj, A. (1993). Career plans and gender-role attitudes of college students in the United States, Japan, and Slovenia. Sex Roles, 29, 317-334.
17.
Office for Women’s Politics . (1993). Preliminary report from the Republic of Slovenia on measures taken for the abolishment of all forms of discrimination against women. Ljubljana: Republic of Slovenia.
18.
Radosavljevic, Z. (1995, February 12). Catholic values revive in independent Croatia. Reuters American, Inc. [CD-ROM]. (CD NewsBank Comprehensive, 1995, Article with citation, Accession No. 00849*19950212*00589)
19.
Spence, J. T. , & Helmreich, R. L. (1972). The Attitudes Toward Women Scale: An objective instrument to measure attitudes toward the rights and roles of women in contemporary society. Catalog of Selected Documents in Psychology, 2, 66. (Manuscript No. 153)
20.
Tatalovich, R. , & Daynes, B. W. (1981). The politics of abortion. New York: Praeger.
21.
Villemez, W. J. , & Touhey, J. C. (1977). A measure of individual differences in sex-typing and sex-discrimination: The “Macho” Scale. Psychological Reports, 41, 411-415.
22.
Walzer, S. (1994). The role of gender in determining abortion attitudes. Social Science Quarterly, 75, 687-693.
23.
Welch, M. , Leege, D., & Cavendish, J. (1995). Attitudes toward abortion among U.S. Catholics: Another case of symbolic politics. Social Science Quarterly, 76, 142-157.
24.
Wilcox, C. (1995). The sources and consequences of public attitudes toward abortion. In T. G. Jelen (Ed.), Perspectives on the politics of abortion (pp. 55-86). Westport, CT: Praeger.
