library(tidyverse)
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## v tibble  3.1.3     v dplyr   1.0.7
## v tidyr   1.1.3     v stringr 1.4.0
## v readr   2.0.1     v forcats 0.5.1
## -- Conflicts ------------------------------------------ tidyverse_conflicts() --
## x dplyr::filter() masks stats::filter()
## x dplyr::lag()    masks stats::lag()
library(ggplot2)

Import Data

Data Citation: Davern, Michael; Bautista, Rene; Freese, Jeremy; Morgan, Stephen L.; and Tom W. Smith. General Social Survey 1972-2021 Cross-section. [Machine-readable data file]. Principal Investigator, Michael Davern; Co-Principal Investigators, Rene Bautista, Jeremy Freese, Stephen L. Morgan, and TomW. Smith. NORC ed. Chicago, producer, 2021. Berkeley, CA: Computer-assisted Survey MethodsProgram (http://sda.berkeley.edu), University of California/ISA, distributor, 2021

Data Dislcaimer: Changes in opinions, attitudes, and behaviors observed in 2021 relative to historical trends may be due to actual change in concept over time and/or may have resulted from methodological changes made to the survey methodology during the COVID-19 global pandemic

opinion_data<-read.csv("sub-data.csv")

#recode and condense variables

#Missing-data codes: ".[char]": convert to na; all vars numeric
opinion_data<-as.data.frame(sapply(opinion_data, as.numeric))

#make binary questions 01, yes is 1
opinion_data<-opinion_data%>%mutate(
  abdefect=case_when(abdefect==1~1, abdefect==2~0),
  abnomore=case_when(abnomore==1~1, abnomore==2~0),
  abhlth=case_when(abhlth==1~1, abhlth==2~0), 
  abpoor=case_when(abpoor==1~1, abpoor==2~0), 
  abrape=case_when(abrape==1~1, abrape==2~0), 
  absingle=case_when(absingle==1~1, absingle==2~0),
  abany=case_when(abany==1~1, abany==2~0)
)
                             
#combine all of the binary abortion questions about when abortion is acceptable into one to make abortion tolerance scale
opinion_data<-opinion_data%>%rowwise()%>%mutate(
  abtol=sum(abdefect,abnomore,abhlth,abpoor,abrape,absingle)
)

Direction

On the whole, more than half of people believe that abortions should be available for any or almost any reason.

As of 2021, 56% of people selected that people should be able to acquire an abortion for any reason. However, when asked about more specific situations, only 52% agreed that an abortion is acceptable in all six of the outlined situations.

Looking at all of those situations, only 7% of people did not believe that any of the situations outlined warranted an abortion, meaning that most of the 44% that believed that abortions shouldn’t be available for every reason DID believe that at least one of the situations stated was an acceptable reason for an abortion.

In fact, 78% of the respondents agreed that three or more of the six reasons presented were valid reasons to have an abortion.

## [1] "Yes to any reason"
## 
##   0   1 
## 579 749
## [1] "Number of Yeses per person"
## 
##   0   1   2   3   4   5   6 
## 100  89 108 204  81  72 718

Stability

Public approval for abortion for any reason has generally been increasing every year since 2000, with greatest increases in approval being seen in the last 3 years on the survey (2016, 2018, and 2021). Before 1990, public opinion fluctuated between about 35% to 40%, and between 1990 and 2000 that fluctuation began to settle into the increasing pattern with a drop in approval between 1996 and 2000.

However, the average number of acceptable situations to abort has remained relatively steady at around 4. There is a bit of a drop at around 1996 to the mid 2000s, but then it holds steady until some decent increases in the last 3 surveyed years.

## NULL

## NULL

Extremity

Looking at the people who agreed that few reasons for abortions are tolerable(3 or less), the most common reasons(by a landslide) that those people said “yes you should be able to get an abortion in this circumstance” are:

1- The woman’s own health is seriously endangered by the pregnancy

2- She became pregnant as a result of rape

3- There is a strong chance of serious defect in the baby

Looking at the people that agreed that most, but not all, reasons(more than 3 but less than 6) to get an abortion are tolerable, the most commonly left out reasons are:

1- She is not married and does not want to marry the man

2- The family has a very low income and cannot afford any more children

3- She is married and does not want any more children

This shows that those that agree with few reasons to have an abortion and those that agree with more reasons to have an abortion have similar ideals on when abortion is unacceptable- since the least popular options on the higher end of tolerance are also the least popular on the lower end of tolerance.

## [1] "Low Tolerance"
##          Count
## abdefect   235
## abnomore     8
## abhlth     371
## abpoor       6
## abrape     291
## absingle     6
## [1] "High Tolerance"
##          Count
## abdefect   130
## abnomore    99
## abhlth     146
## abpoor      83
## abrape     152
## absingle    74

Variation