SOCIAL PROBLEMS: A Down-to-Earth Approach, 8/e

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movement was part of this challenge to established ideas. As this movement gained followers, more and more women felt that they should not have to become criminals to terminate a pregnancy. They became convinced that they had the right to legal abortions. THE EMERGENCE OF LEADERS. As people discussed their concerns about abortion being illegal, leaders emerged who helped to crystallize the issues. In Hawaii, Vincent Yano, a Roman Catholic state senator and the father of ten, argued that if abortion were a sin, it would be better to have no abortion law than to have one that allowed it under certain circumstances (Steinhoff and Diamond 1977). This reasoning allowed Yano to maintain his religious opposition to abortion while favoring the repeal of Hawaii’s law against abortion. ORGANIZING AROUND THE ISSUE. Another leader emerged: Joan Hayes, a former Washington lobbyist. She felt that simply to liberalize the laws against abortion would be to duck what she saw as the major issue: the right of a woman to choose whether to have a baby. Hayes understood the use of power—and the value of arousing a concerned public. She invited leaders in medicine, business, labor, politics, religion, and the media to a citizens’ seminar on abortion sponsored by the American Association of University Women. The Second Stage: Crafting an Official Response The stages of a social problem don’t have neat ending and beginning points. Their edges are blurry, and they overlap. In this case, between 1967 and 1968, legislators had introduced several bills to soften Hawaii’s law against abortion. These bills, which would have broadened the circumstances under which abortion would be legal, were actually attempts to redefine abortion. Thus, the stages of defining the social problem and officially responding to it were intertwined. The turning point came when Senator Yano announced that he would support the repeal of the abortion law. This stimulated other official responses as organizations—from the Chamber of Commerce to the Roman Catholic Church—endorsed or rejected the repeal. Public forums and legislative hearings were held, generating huge amounts of publicity. This publicity served as a vital bridge between the public at large and the advocates of repeal. As Hawaiians became keenly aware of the abortion issue, polls showed that most wanted to repeal the law against abortion. In 1970, Hawaii did just that. The Third Stage: Reacting to the Official Response As sometimes happens, the official response to a social problem becomes defined as a social problem. This is what happened with abortion, especially after 1973, when the U.S. Supreme Court concurred with the Hawaiian legislation and struck down all state laws that prohibited abortion. Indignant about what they saw as murder, antiabortion groups picketed and used political pressure to try to sway public opinion and turn legislative defeat into victory. Besides inspiring new opposition, official response also can change the definition of the social problem that is held by those who promoted the reform in the first place. In this case, proabortion groups noted that despite their Supreme Court victory, most counties did not offer abortions, and many women who wanted abortions could not obtain them. Consequently, they began to promote abortion clinics to make abortion more readily accessible. Figure 1-1 shows the success of these efforts. In 1973, the first year of legal abortion, 745,000 abortions were performed. This number climbed quickly to one million, then to a million and a half, where it reached a plateau. From 1979 to 1994, the total ran between 1,500,000 and 1,600,000 each year, but beginning in 1995 the number began to drop. It now is about 1,300,000 a year. Figure 1-2 presents another overview of abortion. From this figure, you can see that the abortion ratio climbed sharply, plateaued for about 10 years, and then dropped. Today, for every 100 live births there are 32 abortions. 10 CHAPTER 1 HOW SOCIOLOGISTS VIEW SOCIAL PROBLEMS: THE ABORTION DILEMMA
FIGURE 1-1 Number of Abortions and Live Births 4,000,000 3,000,000 2,000,000 1,000,000 100 80 60 40 20 0 0 24 1973 1973 Live Births Abortions 33 1975 Abortions Live Births 1975 43 1980 1980 Source: By the author. Based on Statistical Abstract of the United States 2007:Table 93. This is the latest year listed in the 2007 source. FIGURE 1-2 Number of Abortions per 100 Live Births 42 1985 Year 1985 39 1990 1990 35 1995 1995 32 2000 2000 32 2002* Source: By the author. Based on Statistical Abstract of the United States 1988:Tables 81, 103; 2007:Table 93. This is the latest year listed in the 2007 source. Year The Fourth Stage: Developing Alternative Strategies 2003* The millions of abortions after the Supreme Court’s ruling led to a pitched battle that still rages. Let’s look at some of the alternative strategies developed by the pro- and antiabortion groups. THE NATURAL HISTORY OF SOCIAL PROBLEMS: FOUR STAGES 11
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