Abortion, Religion & Liberalism with Professor Amy Adamczyk

In this timely episode James and Will welcome Amy Adamczyk, Professor of Sociology at John Jay College of Criminal Justice and The Graduate Center, City University of New York. Amy discusses her sociological exploration of attitudes towards abortion, in-vitro fertilisation (IVF) and other assisted reproductive technologies (ARTs), and the role that religious and other socio-demographic factors play in shaping these attitudes. Amy presents the results of a comparative quantitative analysis of attitudes to abortion across 70 countries, before presenting findings of more in-depth qualitative work into attitudes in the US and China, and the role of liberalism in these different contexts. In the Chinese context, abortion is a less contentious issue, and Amy discusses the comparative hardening of attitudes to abortion in the US in the context of the Supreme Court's overturning of the Roe vs Wade decision, which had guaranteed the right to abortion across the US. Amy discusses the international implications of this decision, whilst considering the socio-economic and other demographic factors that influence 'country-level' attitudes to abortion and ARTs.