Public Perceptions Of Dobbs vs. Jackson Women's Health Organization

Abstract

This 2-wave panel study examines the relationship between Separate Spheres Ideology (hereafter, SSI), abortion attitudes, and attitudes toward reproductive health policies. Prior research on gender ideology has focused on prescriptive and descriptive stereotypes, but this study aims to test the validity of SSI as a measure of gender ideology in the context of abortion attitudes. It was generally expected that those respondents who endorse SSI, who are theoretically committed to preserving the gendered-status quo in society, will be more likely to endorse the SCOTUS decision in Dobbs vs. Jackson Women's Health Organization (hereafter, Dobbs) and related policy attitudes when the Dobbs decision is depicted as a threat to the gendered status quo. The surveys were administered through Prolific, an online research panel. The analytic focus was to test the interaction between SSI at Time 1 and the experimental factors presented at Time 2. Wave 1 included baseline measures, such as SSI, age, gender, ethnicity, sexual orientation, education, political ideology, and political party, which served as control variables in the data analysis. In Wave 2, participants were randomly assigned to either the control condition or one of two experimental conditions (Positive Impact or Negative Impact). Survey questions in Wave 2 measured various dependent variables, including attitudes toward abortion. The interactions between AAI and both treatment paragraphs had positive associations with emotion scores.