Researching the other side of the issue.
“Vote Yes on Issue 1.” Last year Ohio lawmakers voted to hold a special election on August 8th; special elections just months earlier had been outlawed unless a government entity faced a fiscal emergency.[1] The election had only one measure on the ballot, change Ohio’s Constitution to allow future constitutional changes only if 60% of voters voted in favor of the change as opposed to the current 50% plus 1.[2] Why was this measure on the ballot, there were many idea being thrown around, but Chris Quinn, editor of the Cleveland Plain Dealer, said that the honest lawmakers admitted that it was because a proposed constitutional amendment legalizing abortion would appear on the November ballot.[3] Knowing that this special election and the November election were upcoming, I spent some time researching the issue of abortion.
Bobby Duffy in his book Why We’re Wrong About Nearly Everything discusses why we are prone to thinking errors (delusions) and how to deal with our delusions.[4] Just reading the title of the book, I immediately felt the contents would be connected to Tim Harford’s How to Make The World Add Up, Kathyrn Schulz’s Being Wrong, and Daniel Kahneman’s Thinking, Fast and Slow, and that was one thing about which I was not wrong. Duffy references Kahneman throughout the book even including quotes from an interview. I particularly liked that when referencing his acknowledgement of the errors we make with our System 1 and 2 thinking, Kahneman said “’I’ve been studying this stuff for 45 years and I really haven’t improved one bit.’”[5]In discussing how strongly we become attached to our ideas he writes “Once we’ve made a decision about an idea . . . we become attached to it. We seek out information that confirms the rightness of our conviction.” This mirrors much of what Schulz writes about in her book, she writes “we fight over the right to be right, and “it does feel like something to be wrong, it feels like being right.”[6] Duffy’s book was full of statistical information about surveys he and others have done and people’s responses to the surveys. Duffy does talk about how presenting facts doesn’t also lead people to changing their minds. Harford says “One of the reasons facts don’t always change our minds is that we are keen to avoid uncomfortable truths.” [7]
I knew that I had to go into researching abortion with an open mind. Duffy writes about Charles Darwin, “Whenever Darwin saw observations that didn’t fit with his theory, he noted them down immediately—and the more correct he thought his theory was, the more actively he sought contradictions.”[8] In my mind I saw the average woman who had an abortion to be in her early to mid-twenties, single, never had a child, and did it selfishly to avoid the responsibility of becoming a parent. Why did I have this idea in my mind? As Duffy suggests, it really wasn’t something I gave much thought and I probably heard someone give those ‘facts’ before.[9] I sat down and started to research, I looked at research for the United States. I researched not only the who, but also the why, why get an abortion and why not adoption. I wasn’t surprised to find that approximately 70% of abortions are performed on woman aged 20-29 and that only 14% were currently married. What surprised me was that almost 60% had previously given birth.[10] I experienced a lot of cognitive dissonance reading that fact, I had to know more. Duffy in his last chapter gives “ten ideas for how we can form more accurate views of our world.”[11] One of the ideas is using stories “presenting real examples, with real individuals . . . to change the stereotypical mental image people hold.”[12] I found some research studies that involved stories. One study involved an abortion clinic in a Northwest state that provided notebooks in the pre-op and post-op waiting rooms for women to write anything they wanted. The main writings involved explanations as to why the woman was obtaining an abortion with the dominate themes of preventing a child from coming into a chaotic and/or abusive situation, and a means to keep the current family stable given the woman’s limited resources (emotional, psychological, financial etc.).[13] Another study examined why women choose abortion over adoption; there was a theme of being fearful of what might happen to their child in an adoptive home and abortion as a way to protect them.[14] After reading these and other studies, I realized that the many things I had heard over the years, the pictures that have been painted for me about the women who seek abortions might be wrong. This did not change my views on the sanctity of life. It provided me, however, an empathic, realistic understanding of why a woman might choose to not bring a baby into this world at that specific time in her life. It also reinforced my ideas that we as a church and nation need to do a better job supporting women. We need to create a society where having an abortion should be the last thought a woman has because of all the supports she knows she has if she gives birth. In case you were wondering, Issue 1 failed, and after November’s election abortion became a constitutional right in Ohio.
Duffy’s last suggestion to address our delusions is creating situations where “better and deeper engagement is possible.” He talks about how this is being tried.[15] I will be honest, even though Duffy also says “Things are not as bad as we think,” I am somewhat pessimistic about what appears to be a growing polarization of our society.[16] But, maybe we can get away from the algorithms that feed our delusions and be willing to listen to other peoples ideas, research and testimonies no matter how uncomfortable they make us feel.
[1] Ohio Revised Code 3501.022. Section 3501.022 – Ohio Revised Code | Ohio Laws
[2] Frank LaRose, “State Issue 1,” issuereport.pdf (ohiosos.gov)
[3] Chris Quinn “ A fiery discussion about why Ohio’s special election is really about gutting democracy in the state. Accessed March 15, 2024. A fiery discussion about why Ohio’s August special election is really about gutting democracy in the state – cleveland.com
[4] Bobby Duffy, Why We’re Wrong About Nearly Everything, (New York, NY: Basic Books, 2019),
[5] Duffy, 225.
[6] Kathryn Schulz, Being Wrong , (New York, NY: Ecco, 2011) 8,18.
[7] Tim Harford. How to Make the World Add Up (Great Britian: Bridge Street Press, 2020), 264
[8] Duffy, 64.
[9] Duffy, 3.
[10] Rachel K. Jones, and Jenna Jerman, “Population group abortion rates and lifetime incidence of abortion: United States, 2008-2014,” American Journal of Public Health 107, 2017.
[11] Duffy, 230.
[12] Duffy, 239.
[13] Katie Watson and Kassandra Samuel “Maternal indications: Current or future mothering as a reason for abortion among patients writing in notebooks at one American abortion clinic,” SSM – Qualitative Research in Health 2, 2022.
[14] Li za Fuentes, Megan Kavanaugh, Lori Frohwirth, Jenna Jerman, & Nakeisha Blades,( “Adoption is just not for me”: How abortion patients in Michigan and New Mexico factor adoption into their pregnancy outcome decisions. Conception X 5, 1-5 , 2023.
[15] Duffy , 239-240.
[16] Duffy, 230.
About the Author
Jeff Styer
Jeff Styer lives in Northeast Ohio's Amish Country. He has degrees in Social Work and Psychology and currently works as a professor of social work at Mount Vernon Nazarene University. Jeff is married to his wife, Veronica, 25+ years. Together they have 4 beautiful children (to be honest, Jeff has 4 kids, Veronica says she is raising 5). Jeff loves the outdoors, including biking, hiking, camping, birding, and recently picked up disc golf.10 responses to “Researching the other side of the issue.”
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Hi Jeff. Thanks for your post. Given the complexity and controversy surrounding the issue of abortion, the proposed constitutional amendment in Ohio to require a 60% majority for future changes, and the insights from Bobby Duffy’s book on dealing with delusions and cognitive biases, how do you view the role of factual understanding and empathetic engagement in informing public policy debates on deeply divisive issues like abortion?
Glyn,
I think one of the biggest issues is getting people to a point where they are actually willing to listen to people who present facts and testimonies that they don’t agree with. Factual engagement and empathic understanding play an essential role when discussing these types of issues. It’s healthy to have our beliefs challenged. However, I think our leaders overall are not exhibiting a willingness to listen and others just follow suit.
Thanks for your thoughtful post, Jeff, and for modeling how to utilize facts as a way to reshape your own biases. How was this exercise a threshold concept for you? How will you be forever different?
Ryan,
Thanks for the questions. I really had no idea how much emotion and thought many women put into making this decision. The pro-life movement doesn’t seem to ever frame it that way. That one of my threshold concepts. How will I be forever different? I guess I am being challenged to really slow my thinking down, take time to examine an issue, and check my own delusional thinking. Then regardless of the decision I make, not be so judgmental of those who believe differently.
Hi Jeff,
We fostered a 15 year old girl for a short time, and she taught me something about abortion. She told me that she would never give birth, and opt for abortion. When I asked her why, she explained that she would never bring a child into this world to experience the trauma she has, and would never want a child to feel the sense of abandonment that they might if adopted.
I didn’t agree with her logic, but can understand how women make hard decisions in desperate situations.
I’ve also worked with teen moms and see the struggle they face with single parenting. Having another child after barely being able to take care of one would be a daunting task.
I agree that this is the job of the church to provide an environment where mom’s can be supported and cared for. How do you navigate the polarization of beliefs on abortion in Ohio?
Christy,
Honestly, sometimes I avoid the conversation with others that I know believe differently, sometimes it’s because I think they won’t really be willing to listen and gain empathy. I have shared my Aha moment with some co-workers and they listened. I sought permission to send in something I wrote as a letter to the editor, but I was urged not to do so due to it being such a highly polarized issue. I have shared some of my aha moment with students who are opposed to abortion asking them to look up some stats to gain a new perspective, I don’t know if they did or not. So, I guess overall I am trying to navigate this carefully trying to advocate not to have them change their mind about the rightness or wrongness but to gain empathy.
Thank you for your post, Jeff!
How does Bobby Duffy’s book explore the reasons behind our thinking errors (delusions), and what strategies would you propose for dealing with them?
Duffy explores several reasons behind thinking errors, I love the variety of surveys that they do which shows the data as to what people believe compared to the actual numbers. He talks about the media reinforcing our beliefs and we love to look for information that confirms our beliefs. I encourage my students to check multiple sources before declaring something to be true and that the sources need to come from different leanings (conservative, liberal, etc.) I also believe that if we have a chance to actually sit down and talk to someone and hear their side/rational it will go a long way to helping us understand others and challenge our own thoughts.
Hi Jeff, thank you for your post and the research you did and shared with the cohort this week. I appreciated how Duffy mentioned we can learn new information, but that doesn’t mean our worldview will change. This has really helped me put down defenses with certain contentious topics (i.e. religion). I am grateful for information that causes cognitive dissonance because it ultimately helps me have more meaningful dialogue with those who share different beliefs.
What do you think “better and deeper engagement” might look like for you in the future when it comes to supporting women who may be seeking an abortion? This is something I have had to ask myself.
Thanks Elysse,
I encourage my students to accept people where they are at, not necessarily approve of their lifestyle choices. This is where deeper engagement can begin. We need to be willing to sit down with people and really listen to their stories, see them as people created in the image of God, love them for who they are. After listening, even if I don’t agree, I can still offer myself as a support. Before the Bill passed in Ohio, a hypothetical situation was asked, not directly to me but I believe it was part of a group discussion If Abortion was illegal in Ohio and I knew someone who needed transportation out of state to get an abortion, would I be willing to drive them. I’m still not sure how I would answer that, it would require a lot of prayer.