Catholicism and Abortion Attitudes in the American States: A Contextual Analysis

Document Type

Article

Publication Date

9-1993

Publication Title

Journal for the Scientific Study of Religion

Volume

32

Issue

3

First page number:

223

Last page number:

230

Abstract

Using data from state exit polls in 1990, we attempted to determine the manner in which Roman Catholicism affects abortion attitudes. We compared individual-level effects, in which the Church socializes individual members, with contextual effects, in which the Church affects abortion attitudes by altering the terms of the debate outside the Church's membership. Both effects were found to be statistically significant, although the contextual effects of Catholicism were negative. This suggests that the Catholic Church is rather effective in teaching antiabortion attitudes to its members, but that a strong Catholic presence in a particular state occasions countermobilization on the part of non-Catholics.

Keywords

Abortion; Abortion—attitudes; Catholics; Pro-life movement; Religion; Religion and politics

Disciplines

American Politics | Catholic Studies | Political Science | Religion | Women's Studies

Language

English

Permissions

Use Find in Your Library, contact the author, or interlibrary loan to garner a copy of the item. Publisher policy does not allow archiving the final published version. If a post-print (author's peer-reviewed manuscript) is allowed and available, or publisher policy changes, the item will be deposited.

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