Abortion and Norms in Latin American Public Opinion

As access to safe abortion via both informal and formal providers enhanced the visibility of abortion in the general public, how did this contribute to destigmatization and the public’s response to the legalization of abortion? Feminist activists throughout Latin America have adopted a strategy of “social decriminalization of abortion,” attempting to increase the visibility of the issue to gain support and lower stigma. In this survey, I seek evidence for this phenomenon among public opinion data. I explore respondents’ familiarity with abortion and their opinions about whether abortion is justified and whether it should be legal. Prior research shows that most individuals are abortion “situationalists,” meaning that their views about whether abortion is legitimate or acceptable are sensitive to contextual factors such as the reason for ending the pregnancy and the number of gestational weeks (Clements and Field 2018; Norrander and Wilcox 2023). But most research on public opinion about abortion in Latin America asks respondents about their views in a narrowly. For example, LAPOP asks “Do you think it’s justified to interrupt a pregnancy, that is, to have an abortion, when the mother’s health is in danger?” While this phrasing is advantageous since it is historically a controversial, stigmatized issue, it leaves open the question of how situational factors such as gestational weeks and the motive for seeking an abortion affect people's views. In addition to diversity in motives and individual health factors, we know that there is variation in the ways that people access abortion care: alone or with the help of a doctor or friend or activist acompañante; through a public or private clinic; surgically or with a pill at home or in a medical setting. But to my knowledge, we do not have survey research exploring the public’s awareness of these factors or how changes in the abortion setting or mode affect views of legitimacy. This leads me to ask: how does medicalization (presence of medical professionals and clinical setting) affect public support for abortion? This survey will be fielded in countries with different contexts of formal (legal status) and informal (practical ability to obtain care) abortion access to explore how these social and political conditions influence the public’s views of abortion. I will also ask respondents questions about whether they know someone who has had an abortion or have had conversations about abortion with their family to explore descriptive norms (the level of visibility/awareness of abortion). I will also ask respondents about their views of the legality and morality of abortion to explore prescriptive norms.