Characteristics US abortion patients, 2008: Religion

Guttmacher Institute: Almost three-quarters of women obtaining abortions in 2008 reported a religious affiliation. The largest proportion were Protestant (37%),* and most of the rest said that they were Catholic (28%) or that they had no religious affiliation (27%). One in five abortion patients identified themselves as born-again, evangelical, charismatic or fundamentalist; 75% of these were Protestant (not shown).†

The proportion of abortion patients lacking a religious affiliation increased significantly, from 22%, in 2000.
Protestants were underrepresented among abortion patients, and the relative abortion rate for this group was
lower than the rate for all women (abortion index, 0.75). While the Catholic Church has strong proscriptions against abortion, the relative abortion rate for Catholic women was no different from that for all women (1.04). Women with no religious affiliation had a relative abortion rate one and one-half times that of all women (1.59). The abortion indices for Protestant and Catholic women changed little between 2000 and 2008.

Attendance at religious services is sometimes regarded as an indicator of an individual’s adherence to religious doctrines. In 2008, 15% of women having abortions reported attending religious services once a week or more, 13% attended 1–3 times a month and 32% attended less frequently; 41% never attended religious services (not shown). According to the General Social Survey (see Appendix 1), 23% of U.S. women aged 18–44 in 2006 and 2008 reported that they never attended religious services, and 24% that they attended once a week or more. Thus, tentative evidence suggests that women obtaining abortions attend religious services less frequently than all women.

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*As in the previous surveys, Protestants include women who wrote in that they were Christian and did not specify a denomination (8% of abortion patients in 2008).

†In 2000, some 13% of abortion patients aged 18 and older identified as born-again or evangelical. However, the item was reworded slightly for the 2008 survey, and we therefore cannot compare changes according to this characteristic over time.

Editor: The same research shows that while cohabiting women are roughly 8% of the population (of women of childbearing age), they are almost 3.5 times more likely to get an abortion.