The 1987 Movie and Opinions About Abortion

The movie Dirty Dancing was released in 1987, and it continued to be viewed often on VCR during the following years.

The Gallup company has collected opinions about abortion since 1973, when the US Supreme Court issued its Roe v Wade ruling, which struck down all the states' abortion laws.

Here are the opinions of women and of men before and after 1987 (click on the graphs to enlarge them):

Women's opinions about abortion

Men's opinions about abortion

I will focus on women's opinions. 

From 1973 to the present, about 20% of women have opposed abortion in all cases (the low, dotted line). The other 80% think that abortion should be legal at least some cases (the middle, green line) or in all cases (the upper, blue line).  

In the years following 1987, the percentage of women who thought that abortion should be legal in all cases fell from 58% to about 43%, while the percent who thought it should be legal only in some cases rose steeply from about 23% to 33%. 

In other words, support for abortion fell after the 1987 movie. Fewer women thought abortion should be legal in all cases. However, perhaps that happened because the movie caused women to think and discuss more about the issue and to become more nuanced in their opinions.

After about 1995, the 80% reverted largely to its pre-1987 ratio. By 1997, about 63% of women thought that abortion should be legal in all cases. That year, 1997, was the peak of support for abortion legality. 

Since 1997, the always-legal opinion has gradually declined. Now in 2021, only about 45% of women think that abortion always should be legal (about 50% of men think so).

In recent years, the controversy has been more about abortions in late pregnancy. Rather than arguing about first-trimester abortions , people are arguing about third-trimester abortions. As the fetus looks more and more like a baby, women feel more and more that abortions should be legally restricted.

Ha, ha! I didn't get aborted.