Measuring Abortion Attitudes: A Reckoning with the Rossi Scale

• In Event: 40820 - Section on Sociology of Sex and Gender Roundtables
  In Refereed Roundtable (60 minute): Table 5: Reproductive Justice

Abstract

Since 1965, the “Rossi scale” has been regularly used in the social sciences and sociology to gauge the extent to which individuals feel that women should have access to a legal abortion by assessing their agreement with abortion in a series of circumstances. In the contemporary era, however, the conversation has shifted from a discussion of abortion rights to a discussion of abortion access. Moreover, feminist theory has moved beyond the use of an underlying “choice” logic to assess individuals’ attitudes toward abortion. In this article, I interrogate the prevailing use of the Rossi scale for measurement of abortion attitudes by investigating its reliability, assessing its enduring hierarchical nature, and verifying its unidimensionality. Despite concerns with the continued face validity of the Rossi scale, findings show that the scale continues to be statistically adequate. I discuss my most pertinent findings in these regards and propose potential analytic alternatives for future scholarship surrounding reproductive justice, abortion, and attitudes toward legal abortion in particular.

Author

• Kylee A. Montgomery, The Ohio State University