Study: religious women have abortions just as often as others

In many countries, religion remains a major factor in shaping people's attitudes towards abortion. Those for whom faith plays an important role in their lives are more likely to find abortion morally unacceptable. However, a new study by sociologist Amy Adamczyk shows that there is a significant gap between beliefs and actual decisions, The Conversation reports

In her book Fetal Positions (2025), Adamczyk emphasises that strong religiosity does not make an American woman less likely to have an abortion if it is her first pregnancy out of wedlock and there is no prospect of marriage.

The study used data from the National Longitudinal Survey of Adolescent and Young Adult Health in the U.S., which tracked the lives of about 5,000 women - from their teens to early 2000s - for six years (mid-1990s to early 2000s).

The study included information on religious affiliation, frequency of attendance at services, participation in church activities, regularity of prayer, and subjective importance of religion in life. Participants were also asked about their sexual behaviour, views on abortion, the presence of pregnancies outside of marriage and their outcome.

The result: about 25 per cent of women who became pregnant outside of marriage for the first time decided to have an abortion - regardless of how active their religious life was.

Sociologists Lexi Milmain and Tina Fetner reached similar conclusions when they analysed data from a 2017 Canadian study: neither participation in religious services nor religious affiliation itself had a statistically significant impact on the decision to have an abortion.

While the "intensity" of religious life is not directly related to the decision, the type of religion does have an impact. Adamczyk's study found: women who belonged to conservative Protestant churches as teenagers were less likely to have an abortion compared to Catholic and moderate Protestant women - even with the same level of religious activity.

Conservative Christian denominations (e.g., the Southern Baptist Convention) have traditionally taken a hard-line stance on abortion. The Catholic Church is also officially opposed, although 6 in 10 American Catholics, according to polls, believe abortion should be allowed in all or most cases.

Thus, there is a gap between public attitudes and personal decisions. While religious people are more likely to express condemnation of abortion, when it comes to actual choice, the situation is more complex.

For many women, religion becomes an important frame of reference but not a decisive factor, especially when it comes to the first unplanned pregnancy outside of marriage. It is the type of religious affiliation (rather than the depth of faith) that may have a greater influence.

It is more difficult to trace the influence of religion on decisions about subsequent pregnancies. Statistics show that approximately 60% of women who have had an abortion in the U.S. already have at least one child. How religion influences the decisions of such women is a question that requires further research.

The authors emphasise that in the area of reproductive rights, public opinion is often shaped by ideology, but personal choices are much more individual and controversial than is commonly believed.