Conceptualizing Abortion and ART as Reproductive Issues: Explaining Attitudes in Europe

While an increasing number of individuals and couples employ assisted reproductive technology (ART) to achieve their family formation goals, there is no convergence on how to legislate reproductive rights in Europe. ART is a reproductive rights issue alongside abortion. At the individual-level, however, we know very little about what explains attitudes toward ART. In contrast to ART, relevant explanatory factors for understanding variation in abortion attitudes are clearly outlined in political science literature. Moreover, we do not know to what extent individuals hold consistent attitudes toward ART and abortion. This paper aims to provide insights about what explains individual attitudes across different reproductive issues at both the country level and the individual level. Drawing on the rich literature on abortion attitudes as a starting point, religious and party explanations are explored, in addition to other relevant control variables. Cross national survey data from the European Values Study (EVS) in multilevel models is utilized to examine attitudes towards two different reproductive issues: ART and abortion. Hence, this paper argues that it is necessary to disaggregate reproductive rights to accurately pinpoint the drivers of public opinion on these issues. Considering how reproductive issues differ conceptually and practically is particularly important, as the political consequences and normative implications vary between abortion and ART.