America’s Class War Over Abortion

As a moral and legal matter, the Court should overturn Roe. But powerful considerations may stand in its way. The justices of the Supreme Court are by any measure members of America’s ruling class. Whatever their background, they have acquired advanced degrees from the nation’s leading schools, and now belong to what may be the nation’s most exclusive club. They move in a world where educational attainment and professional success are highly valued.

All of this tends to place them on one side of the abortion divide. For on abortion, as on other issues, our culture war is a class war. As the New York Times recently noted, there is only a five-point gender gap on abortion (smaller than on several other contentious issues) but there is a 20-point class gap. Forty-seven percent of Americans with a high school education or less think that abortion should be illegal. Only 27 percent of those with a postgraduate degree agree.

America’s dominant class valorizes educational credentials and professional advancement, even at the costs of goods such as closeness to friends or family. Abortion is a powerful symbol of this class’s willingness to sacrifice whatever stands in the way of career.

It should not be surprising, then, that the rights of the most vulnerable are now being defended by the state of Mississippi. Mississippi is the poorest state in the nation, with a median household income less than half that of Washington, D.C. By some measures it is also the least educated. Mississippi is about as far as one can get from the centers of wealth and power in America. Neighboring Alabama is home to one Fortune 500 company, while Louisiana claims two and Arkansas five. Mississippi has none.

The abortion battle is not only a culture war. It is also a class war. In order to realize their aims, abortion opponents must take this fact to heart. To the extent that our country remains dominated by the professional class, the rights of the unborn are likely to be ignored.