EXPLAINING WOMENS DIFFERENCES IN ABORTION OPINION - THE ROLE OF GENDER CONSCIOUSNESS

We examine the relationship between women's gender consciousness and a bortion opinion. Disaggregating consciousness into separate components of identification and politicization reveals its complex relationship with women's opinions about the circumstances when abortion should be permissible. Identification, an attribute of both traditional and non -traditional women, is related to opinion on abortion for hard circums tances; politicization, associated with recognition of common problems requiring political attention, is related to opinion for the soft cir cumstances. Our research suggests that these components of gender cons ciousness should be considered independently, in recognition of both i ntra-gender differences and the complexity of issues such as abortion.