Abortions more likely among students of religious schools

June 4, 11:55 AMBirmingham Atheism ExaminerJerome Triplett

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On the heels of the horrific and religiously motivated murder of the law abiding Dr. George Tiller, a new report shows that religiosity may play a role in a young woman’s decision on whether or not to have an abortion, but not in the way one might conventionally think.

A new study looking at whether individual and school religiosity influenced abortion behavior published in the Journal of Health and Social Behavior has concluded that unwed pregnant young women who attended private religious schools are more likely to have an abortion than women who attended public school. Researchers studied 1,504 women, aged 14 to 26 at the time of pregnancy, from 125 schools.

While abortion may be more likely among those attending religious schools, the report did conclude that this tendency is not uniform over denominations. The study found that conservative Protestants appear less likely to have abortions than mainline Protestants, Catholics, or women of non-Christian faiths. In this regard the study stated that “While members of other religious groups (e.g. Catholics, mainline Protestants) have become more liberal on issues such as sexual morality, conservative Protestants have sought more separation from the broader culture and have remained steadfast in their traditional beliefs (Petersen and Donnenwerth 1997). As a result, conservative Protestants tend to be more pro-life than other religious groups (Jelen and Wilcox 2003), view childrearing as a centeral mission of family life (Luker 1984: Wilcox 1998), and value motherhood over academic and career achievement (Darnell and Sherkat 1997: Lehrer 19990.”

Several factors seem to come into play when considering why those who attend religous schools are more likely to have abortions, such as the fact that women attending private religious schools may not necessarily be religious themselves and the educational and economic costs of religious doctrinal compliance may override the influence of school teachings and peer attitudes (with the apparent exception of school age conservative Protestants). One other observation made by the report was particularly interesting, however. The study observed that “Additionally, students at religious schools may face higher social sanctions for premarital births. ….Strong social ties are associated with a greater stake in conformity, and a greater concern for reputation (Hirschi 1969). Although both abortion and premarital pregnancy violate conservative religious precepts, an abortion is easer to conceal than a premarital birth.”

In the end it seems that were we to remove religion from the discussion of abortion not only would we have the same intellectual and morally serious issues we currently face, but at least one important problem could be removed. Were the deplorable practice of condemning those who become pregnant outside of marriage discontinued an appreciable contribution toward reducing the number of abortions performed could be made. It also bears considering that the only credible reduction in abortions by young women successfully attributed to religious upbringing seems to be the antiquated and morally reprehensible patriarchal tradition of female subjugation.

Once again it seems that while religion goes out of its way to impede progress and basic liberty it blindly strangles itself, lagging further and further behind the moral zeitgeist while demonstrating how pernicious, cruel and capricious it’s doctrines can be. This not only disqualifies religion from the serious discussions to be had, but it also dooms it to further irrelevance and dwindling adherents. Those in the religious business would do well to take this report seriously. Rather than coercing and violating the rights of others, perhaps they should be more concerned with reforming their own muddled teachings and attitudes of superiority.

    Is this the moral message relgion wishes to spread?