Christians want you to keep your “baby”
An estimated 5,000 people protest the US Supreme Court’s Roe v. Wade decision, 1973. (Photo: Associated Press)
Last week, the US Supreme Court voted to overturn the historic 1973 Roe v. Wade decision, which guaranteed abortion rights in all American states.
The news came out after an initial draft of a majority opinion written by Justice Samuel Alito circulated inside the court and was obtained by POLITICO. The draft reads, “Roe was egregiously wrong from the start… It is time to heed the Constitution and return the issue of abortion to the people’s elected representatives.”
Alito is already facing severe backlash. Protests broke out all around the country as soon as the draft was released, as it could potentially revoke access to safe abortion procedures to about 36 million women of reproductive age all across the country, in an estimated 26 states.
Justice Alito is known for his conservative (some would say downright medieval) Christian values, which is why he’s moving to make abortions inaccessible to millions of women — but he’s just one person, in a country of almost 330 million. How many Americans are actually for and against abortion? As this discussion moves forward, it’s worth looking into who these people are, and what abortion actually means to them.
Because God (and rich, old, white men) said so
According to a study by Pew Research, 61% of Americans said that abortion should be legal, with or without exceptions. That’s more than half of Americans.
But it’s actually more complicated than that. Nearly one in five said that abortion should be legal in all cases, and the rest said that abortion should be legal in some circumstances. Generally, responses changed based on variables like the length of the pregnancy, and whether carrying to term would put the mother’s life in danger.
Interestingly, experts are seeing a definite link between religion and race, and beliefs on abortion. It used to be a common assumption that gender was strongly associated with views on abortion, that men were likey to be against abortion and women were likely to be pro-choice, but that belief has since been debunked.
Recent studies are showing that religion and race are the best predictors of views on abortion. The Economist points out that the gender gap in opinions on abortion was at 6 percentage points only. On the other hand, for religion and race, it was 65 points.
A survey of almost 14,000 Americans showed that just 28% of white or older Hispanic evangelicals wanted to legalize abortion. Similarly, only 53% of white and 65% of Hispanic Catholic and Orthodox church members were for abortion.
Notably, 92% of atheists were in favor of legalizing abortion.
About 65% of Americans identify themselves as Christians. Most people in power in the US government are Christian. In 2019, 88% of representatives in Congress were Christian, and almost all US Presidents have been Christian — so allowing Christian values to control policy making is not new to them. In fact, one of the most common narratives being pushed by conservatives is that the US was founded as a Christian nation.
But it’s worth noting that these people in power are also mostly rich, old, white men–who are speaking for the experiences and needs of women, especially women of color and women living in poverty. Are they really the best people to make decisions about women’s bodies?
