Although abortion is often framed as a women’s issue, men make up half of the electorate and are more often pro-life.1 The legislative branch of the U.S. government is predominantly male: there are currently 125 women serving in the House (28.7 percent) and 24 in the Senate (24 percent),2 and five of the nine justices serving on the Supreme Court of the United States are men, four are women. So, understanding the correlates of men’s support for—or opposition to—abortion is certainly worthwhile, though often overlooked in the public discourse. Scientists collaborating with the Skeptic Research Center are not medical doctors or experts in embryology. We cannot begin to adjudicate the tense and important debate about abortion, but as social scientists we hope to shed light on some under-reported findings that may help the public and policymakers better understand this complex issue.
The stakes here are undeniably high. Depending on which side of the debate one takes, either women’s bodily autonomy or acts of murder hang in the balance. To find some empirical ground on which to make a firm decision, activists debate the degree of humanness inherent in embryos and fetuses. Pro-choice advocates insist that embryos in early stages of development are not consciously aware, whereas pro-life advocates maintain that a measurable heartbeat early in development is a sign of life.