Confusion about Religion & Abortion Rights  

The Reverend Dr. Carlton W. Veazey has been President and CEO of the Religious Coalition for Reproductive Choice (RCRC) since 1997 and is a minister of the National Baptist Convention U.S.A. Reverend Dr. Veazy's full bio. More Sex:Positions.

Statistics and surveys can be useful, but they can also be misconstrued and lead to incorrect conclusions. A new study by the Pew Forum on Religion and Public Life is a case in point. A lot of news stories have been published and posted about the study, stating that support for access to legal abortion is weakening among mainline Protestants. But that isn't necessarily what the Pew statistics show, according to the Pew researcher who conducted the survey. The reseracher himself says of mainline Protestants: "They may be changing what they believe, but not very much."

The slightest nuance in a survey can affect a response. That's definitely the case with statistics on support for abortion rights. It matters how the question is asked. In a poll we conducted of people who identified themselves as religious, less than 50% of respondents said they were "pro-choice," but 80% agreed that "a person must follow her own faith, personal beliefs, and conscience in a matter like abortion." That's being pro-choice! So the next time someone says to you, "Religious people are pro-life" as though it were a proven fact, here are some responses:

"Major denominations - including the Presbyterian Church USA, Episcopal Church, United Church of Christ and the United Methodist Church - have official positions in support of keeping abortion safe and legal and have had those positions in place since the 1970s."

"These denominations are not pro-abortion and never have been, but they firmly believe that women must be free to make decisions about bearing a child that are in keeping with their conscience, faith and personal circumstances. They oppose imposing the beliefs of any one religion through law on individuals of diverse faiths."

Interestingly, regardless of the official position of their religious denomination, women of all religious affiliations do choose abortion. The majority of women older than 17 who obtained an abortion reported a religious affiliation. The highest percent (43%) identified themselves as Protestant; 27% identified themselves as Catholic, 8% said they were a member of another religion; and 22% reported no religious affiliation. Thirteen percent identified themselves as "born-again" or evangelical, three-fourths of whom were Protestant.

People often bring up "religiosity" when talking about views on abortion. The conventional wisdom is that those who attend religious services more often are likely to oppose abortion and those who attend rarely or never are likely to support legalized abortion. But that's what they say in public, or when asked by a pollster. It's not necessarily what they do when they or someone they love has to make a personal decision about whether to terminate a pregnancy. In private, abortion is a decision a woman makes based on her circumstances. It doesn't involve a poll or a survey. Please keep that in mind the next time you see a headline about abortion rights. It’s fair to say that most people leave their sexuality at the door when they go to worship. Organized religion and sex have had an uneasy relationship. Generally, religion has either ignored human sexuality, treated it with suspicion or discomfort, or made people feel guilty about it. While notable progress has been made in the past 15 years in talking about the birds and bees in Sunday school and from the pulpit, the fact is that much more needs to be done, and soon. In a society such as ours that is awash with sexuality in all forms, silence is dangerous and harmful.

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