The life line
O'Keefe, Bob
THE LIFE LINE LIFE, NOT CHOICE, IS THE ISSUE IN Catholics and American Politics, Mary Hanna con-cludes that the abortion issue is merely the " tip of an iceberg of issues," the "iceberg"...
...C If the woman's health is seriously endangered by ttle pregnancy...
...tall and moref & &reyou 5 ft, tall or more...
...Since these questions measure a single dimension, height, the responses "scale...
...Commonweal...
...He chose questions on divorce, marijuana, premarital sex, and pornography...
...There was no evidence to depict pro-life people as any more racist than their pro-abortion counterparts...
...And the anti-abortion, anti-suicide, anti-euthanasia people are not pro-life, but are anti-choice...
...The abortion questions therefore measured a one-dimensional concept, one that might be designated "life...
...The six abortion questions from the NORC study were tested to see if they scaled...
...The suicide and euthanasia questions also scaled, further substantiating the existence of a "life line...
...Fenton sets the data from the NORC survey against this popular perception of the pro-life movement and subsequently finds little truth in this stereotype...
...To test this "choice" hypothesis, Fenton selected questions from the NORC survey that seemed to imply the issue of choice in their responses...
...The responses to these questions were cross-tabulated with those of the "lifeline" to see if "choice," and not "life" was the basis for response...
...B. if she is Warried and does not want any more children...
...tall or more...
...Please tell me whether or not you think it should be possible for a pregnant woman to obtain a legal abortion...
...For example, to measare a one-dimensional concept && as "height," the following series of questions might be designed: A, Are you 4 ft...
...The data on the religious affiliation and practice of the pro-life people, however, were significant...
...D. Are you 7 ft...
...E. If she becomes pregnant as a result of rape...
...An Individual score of two, for example, in 94 out of 100 cases, indicated "yes" answers to the two easiest questions, those concerning rape and the health of the mother...
...The questions were...
...Having proved the existence of a "life line," Fenton proceeded to test the contention of pro-choice groups that the real issue is not "life" but "choice...
...Fenton's study designates the "life line" as a "new and important cutting line of the electorate," dividing Catholic Americans from secular Americans, and religious Americans in general from the less religious...
...BOB OKEEFE (Bob O'Keefe is a student intern at Commonweal...
...C. Are you 6ft...
...included in the NORC survey were questions dealing with abortion, suicide, euthanasia, and the death penalty...
...Fenton's findings were presented at a conference of the Political Studies Association Ameri-can Politics Group, held;.in Walesjast January...
...Under this system, if a series of questions "sealed," the answers, in all probability, rested on a stogie dimension, or "line" representing a more fundamental stance toward the issue...
...In their perspective, Fenton explains, "the pro-abortion, pro-suicide, pro-euthanasia people are not anti-life, but instead are pro-choice...
...The statistics showed both the pro-life and pro-abortion segments of the population to be very much alike politically, an equal number of each group defining themselves as liberal or conservative...
...Fenton concludes that "no comparable scale of attitudes toward 'choice' exists that is one-dimensional and determines positions on questions where 'choice' is the issue...
...Professor John H. Fenton of the University of Mas--sachusetts at Amherst, after reviewing Haima's book for the Amerimn Political Science Review, decided to test "the notion that attitudes toward life represent a new cutting line dividing the electorate...
...Data were readiiy availattle in the form of a 1978 study done bythe National Opinion Research Center of the University of Chicago...
...did not scale with the others, indicating a new dimension at work in the responses...
...Responses to the questions scaled under the dattman system, the questions ranging front easiest {most "yes" answers) to most difficult (most "no" answers...
...This "life line" cuts across political party attachments and political ideology, resting instead on passionately held religious commitments and convictions...
...The question concerning the death penalty, "Do you favor or oppose the death penalty for persons convicted of murder...
...Fenton used the "Guttman sealing'' system in his study...
...F. If she is not married and does not want to marry the man...
...Fenton contrasts this position to what he calls "the New York Times stereotype...
...D. If me family has & very low income and cannot afford the pregnancy...
...This stereotype depicts the "typical" pro-lifers as "religious fundamentalists, political conservatives, social racists, and single-issue voters...
...If one point is assigned to each "yes" answer, an individuars score would not only indicate his probable height, bat would tell which specific questions he answered with a "yes...
...A. If there is a strong chance of serious defect in the baby...
...tall or more...
...Fenton feels that Reagan benefited greatly from the "life" issue, "not because he is conservative and certainly not because he is Republican," but because he was the only presidential candidate who was "unequivocally and unambiguously pro-life...
...The "choice" questions did not scale, signifying that more than one dimension was involved in the questions...
...THE LIFE LINE LIFE, NOT CHOICE, IS THE ISSUE IN Catholics and American Politics, Mary Hanna con-cludes that the abortion issue is merely the " tip of an iceberg of issues," the "iceberg" representing a grea ter, more basic perspective best described as the right to-gfe, ft is this fundamental stance, she farther argues, that qualitativeiy defines and distingaishes ths Catholic posi-tion...
...Featon believed that the questions "seemed fo provide the data necessary to test the hypothesis that positions on these issues are determined by one's at-titude toward life...
Vol. 108 • November 1981 • No. 21
