Among the sea of topics and issues that are frequently discussed and debated in the United States, abortion is currently one of the most heated arguments that has been raging for years on the internet, in debates, and even in the Supreme Court. In the light of the overturning of Roe v. Wade, the 1973 Supreme Court case that legalized abortion nationally, this subject has become increasingly volatile between parties of all stances. One of the most common factors cited for this extreme difference of opinions is religion. The general consensus on this connection is that those who are religious are more often opposed to abortion than those who are not religious. While this is true to some extent, the correlation between religion and abortion reveals itself to be a much more complex relationship than what first meets the eye. The purpose of this paper is to explore and expound on research that has been performed on the nuances and surprising complexity of religion and attitudes toward abortion, while providing possible explanations of the findings. The difference between religious affiliation and religiosity will be described, as well as their effects on abortion views, followed by possible explanations as to why religiosity has such a large effect on stances on abortion. Information will also be given on how reasons behind abortions affect peoples’ perspectives, connected with a summary of the effects that an individual’s view of God has on the subject.
Religious Affiliation, Religiosity, and Abortion Attitudes
The first factor that should be considered in this complex relationship is the religious denomination to which an individual may belong. Indeed, this is the factor that seems to be most prevalent in the public discussion surrounding abortion. In his analysis of Gallup polls on the subject, Frank Newport, the Editor-in-chief of Gallup Poll and a Ph.D. in Sociology, explains, “…many opponents of abortion make their arguments based on religious grounds, and many religious organizations have made their positions on abortion a significant part of their tenets, beliefs and principles” (2022). Other studies have also made clear that there is a significant difference of abortion views between members of varying religious denominations. In a Religious Landscape Study conducted by the Pew Research Center in 2014, it was found that the majority of respondents that identified as Evangelical Protestant (63%), Members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (aka Mormon) (70%), and Jehovah’s Witness (75%) believed that abortion should be illegal in all or most circumstances. This is in stark contrast to the percentages of those who identified as Buddhist (17%), Jewish (15%), Hindu (29%), and Unaffiliated (23%), who are shown to heavily support the legality of abortion in all or most cases. Other denominations, such as Catholics (47%), Historically Black Protestants (42%), Mainline Protestants (35%), Muslims (37%), and Orthodox Christians (45%), are more divided on the subject (2015). It is interesting to note that those that belong to non-Christian religions tend to oppose abortion much less than Christian denominations, suggesting that the ideas or theology present in Christianity generally persuade people to oppose abortion more than other ideologies. More of the theological reasons behind abortion opposition will be discussed later in this paper.
While it is clear that religious affiliation plays a significant role in the relationship between religion and abortions views, it is not as influential as other factors such as personal religiosity. Religiosity can be measured in several ways, some of which include frequency of church attendance, frequency of scripture study, or frequency of prayer. In other words, religiosity can be described as how large of a role religion or God plays in an individual’s day-to-day life. As Newport points out in his analysis:
The data show there are significant differences in attitudes toward abortion within religious groups based on individual religiosity. For example, the more religious the Protestant and the more religious the Catholic, the more likely the individual is to say that abortion should be illegal in all circumstances. … In short, the relative religiosity of Americans (that is, how religious they are) is more predictive of their abortion attitudes than their broad religious identity. (2022)
The findings from Newport are supported by data gathered and published in an article in the academic journal Political Psychology, which also states that religiosity in Catholic and Protestant congregations is negatively correlated with support for abortion, i.e. the greater religiosity an individual has, the less likely they are to support laws legalizing abortion (Osborne et al., 2022). The personal religiosity of an individual tends to reinforce the religious ideals that oppose abortion, regardless of which specific religious denomination that individual may associate with. These reinforced ideals derive themselves from doctrine and teachings that can be found in most Christian circles.
The theological reasons for opposing abortion vary between individuals and denominations, but the most universal reasoning is connected to the equating of abortion with murder in the eyes of those that oppose it. The article “The Ethics of Abortion,” published by Harvard University as part of the Pluralism Project, explains that, “Christian pro-life advocates insist that all human life is sacred and that human life begins at the moment of conception” (2020). The relationship of these ideals with personal religiosity is unclear, as not much research has been conducted relating religious justification opposing abortion with an individual’s religiosity. It can be speculated, however, that those with a greater level of religiosity are those that also see God as a more common and natural part of their lives, as they perform daily actions that reinforce the role of God in the details of their lives. These people view all creation, including human life, as sacred and therefore equate any potential person as already being a divine creation of God. It is understandable that those that have this view, fueled by consistent religiosity, are generally more opposed to abortion than others.
While religiosity plays a large role in determining an individual’s attitude towards abortion, it is interesting to note that its role is extremely reduced in a very similar situation: A woman’s decision to get an abortion. Contrary to what one may believe, religiosity is not as influential on a woman’s decision to receive an abortion as some other factors. Amy Adamczyk, a professor of Sociology at the City University of New York, analyzed a study exploring different factors in the decision for an abortion, and found that factors such as vision for academics and career, the distance of an abortion clinic, public funding for abortions, and the religiosity of the environment surrounding the woman were significantly more influential in the decision to have an abortion than personal religiosity (2008). While this is not the focus of this paper, it is nonetheless notable that what affects attitudes toward abortion so thoroughly does not play much of a role in the actual act of aborting a pregnancy. More research may need to be conducted in this area.
The Complexities of Reasons for Abortion
Many studies that explore the relationship between religiosity and abortion, such as the ones from Gallup and the Pew Research Center, treat attitudes towards abortion as a stark black-and-white issue: An individual is either completely for or against abortion. The truth is that attitudes towards abortion are much more complicated when one accounts for the different reasons an abortion may be performed. In the Political Psychology article mentioned earlier, the analysts divide the data into two general categories: “Elective” abortion, or “…abortion sought for elective reasons (e.g., the woman does not want the child)…”, and “traumatic” abortion, or “medical/trauma-based reasons including cases where carrying the pregnancy to term would jeopardize the woman’s health…” The data show that support for elective abortion is significantly lower than support for traumatic abortion for people of all backgrounds, and, while they did not gather data in relation to the effect religiosity has on the difference between elective and traumatic abortion, the authors demonstrate that Catholics and Protestants are significantly less supportive of elective abortion than Jews and those who have either identified as “other” or having no religious affiliation. Catholics and Protestants were also significantly less supportive of traumatic abortion than those who have no religious affiliation (Osborne et al., 2022). In short, traumatic abortion is more supported than elective abortion, while strongly religious Christian groups such as Catholics and Protestants oppose both types more than those who do not have a religious affiliation. While this data is certainly interesting, as stated previously, religious denomination is not the most influential factor in abortion attitudes. It is reasonable to assume, however, that those who have higher levels of religiosity follow a similar trend as the Catholics and Protestants represented in this study. However, we must still look into other sources to learn more about the effects that the reasons for an abortion have on abortion attitudes.
The way in which an individual understands and views God plays a large role in the level of their religiosity and, accordingly, their views on abortion as well. In the book America’s Four Gods, by Froese and Bader, the interesting relationship between the reasoning behind abortion and an individual’s view of God is explored. The authors categorize individual views of God into four “types” based off of the level of engagement God has with the world and how judgmental God is towards humans: 1) The “Authoritative” God, which is highly engaged in earthly affairs and is more inclined to judge human actions and the world; 2) the “Benevolent” God, which is also highly engaged but less inclined to judgment; 3) the “Critical” God, which does not engage very much with the world, but still is very judgmental of it; and 4) the “Distant” God, which is neither engaged with the world nor judgmental of it. While this labeling system is not perfect, it is useful for comparing views of God relative to each other (2010). The authors use this system to analyze the differences in attitudes towards abortion between the different types of God, finding that there are significant differences between the four categories on which reasons for abortion are acceptable or not.
The most significant discovery was that all four categories generally agreed that abortion was acceptable when the woman’s life was in danger. However, differences between the other reasons are very pronounced. The Authoritative God is by far the most opposed to abortion in general, but especially in situations where the family cannot reasonably afford another child or the child is simply unwanted by the mother. While not as extreme the Authoritative God, the Benevolent God also opposes these reasons stronger than the Critical and Distant Gods, and both the Authoritative and Benevolent Gods are significantly more opposed to abortions of pregnancies that are results of rape (Froese & Bader, 2010). The authors also explore possible reasons behind these differences in opinions. In regard to the factor of rape, they theorize, “Perhaps those who imagine a very engaged God, a characteristic shared by the Authoritative and Benevolent Gods, believe that everything is part of God’s larger plan” (Froese & Bader, 2010). They also tackle possible explanations of the extreme views held in believers of the Authoritative God in particular:
Consider the nature of the Authoritative God–a God who judges but also intervenes. First these believers tend to think that God condemns abortion. Second, these believers tend to think that if a pregnancy is the result of a sin, like sex out of wedlock, then a woman needs to bear the consequences of her sin. Third, these believers insist that an expectant mother trust in God to provide for the child. Fourth, and perhaps most important, believers in an Authoritative God fear that the sin of abortion may result in punishments that outweigh the troubles of having an unwanted child. (Froese & Bader, 2010)
Motivations behind the other types of views are also explored. Pulling from statements made by those interviewed, Froese and Bader explain that the Benevolent God, while critical of abortion, is understanding of and sympathetic towards the plight of a woman contemplating abortion, essentially indicating that God stands by and comforts the woman in this difficult decision. Believers in a Critical God mainly view the decision of abortion as that of an individual who must personally take into account God’s will before making the final decision, and those who believe in a Distant God don’t believe that guidance from God is a viable option in making the decision to have an abortion; the decision is that of the individual woman (2010). These findings demonstrate that attitudes towards abortion are very heavily fueled by individual perceptions of God’s nature. If an individual has a higher level of religiosity, it is reasonable to think that they are more likely to believe in an engaged God, who would be very aware of our actions in a day-to-day life, which in turn correlates with a higher opposition to abortion. Whether God is sympathetic or judgmental of situations where abortion is involved is also determined mainly by the personal views of an individual, as both of these beliefs can be found in every form of religious denomination. The main point of these findings, however, is best expressed by Froese and Bader themselves in their conclusion of the subject: “Most Americans are not happy about abortion. Few individuals advocate a complete ban on all abortion; similarly, few Americans want abortion to become stigma-free” (2010).
Conclusion
The relationship between religiosity and abortion attitudes is very complex, much more so than what is usually portrayed in modern media. The stereotypes that are generally thought of in this hot topic have been shown to be very misrepresentative of both Americans’ general views on abortion and the role religiosity plays in this issue. While religious affiliation does make a difference, it has been demonstrated that personal religiosity and view of God are much more influential in an individual’s view towards abortion, which are also compounded by the effects of the different reasons an abortion may be undertaken. It would be worthwhile to perform more research on the interaction between personal religiosity and religious affiliation (i.e. how does level of personal religiosity combine with specific religious affiliations to affect overall view of abortion?) and the ideological reasons behind this positive correlation between religiosity and opposition to abortion. Understanding this connection may be a key to bridging the large gap in public opinion that has been growing rapidly in recent years.
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