When it comes to anti-choice activists interfering with women’s reproductive rights, there’s no denying that it’s mostly Christian groups trying to get Planned Parenthood and other abortion providers shut down. From the Pro-Life Action League to the National Pro-Life Religious Council, there’s an undeniable link between Christianity and anti-choice activism. That’s what makes a recent survey, sponsored by a self-proclaimed pro-life group, so ironic.
The newly released research, conducted by Christian research group LifeWay at the behest of pro-life group Care Net, paints a very different picture of those seeking abortions than you might imagine. The study interviewed 1,038 women who had received an abortion. Surprisingly, a full 70 percent of these women were Christian.
The study’s results were broken down by religious beliefs, and Christianity was further divided into four distinct categories — Catholic, Orthodox, Protestant and non-denominational. The two groups with the highest reported abortion rates were Protestants (26 percent of respondents) and Catholic (27 percent of respondents).
I have two favorite parts of this report.
First that Atheists only account for 4% of abortions which should be shoved in the face of every one of those smug fundamentalist who call us sinners and accuse us of lacking morality.
Second that this study was paid for by a pro-life group who certainly expected a different result to emerge.
The study goes on to point out that 43% of those Christians who had an abortion go to church at least once a month, and 20% go weekly. So these are not just women who picked the label Christianity out of a hat, they are died in the wool church going believers.
Which leads to only one conclusion. When it comes to baby murdering none of us can hold a candle to Christians.
Now whose turn is it to be smug?
It ties into the doctrine of shame which leads girls and women not to seek out birth control. Then the shame of being pregnant in a family likely to not be accepting of an out of wedlock child leads to the abortion.
ReplyDeleteI am Christian, but I put my teen on birth control because hormones are strong.. I figured there is really no good outcome of a teen pregnancy and it was up to me to help her prevent it
Facts are not the friend of the right wing extremists in this country...ever.
ReplyDeleteNo surprise here. This is pretty much the same breakdown as people in this country self identify themselves on religion.
ReplyDeletehttp://www.adherents.com/rel_USA.html#religions
What would be interesting is to see what % of abortions are had by women who claim to be pro life Christians. The Sarah Palin whiteout kind of Christians.
Let's be good at stats... How does this compare with the religious affiliation of all women? If, for example, 90% of women identified as Christian but only 70% of women who had abortions identified as Christian, then this doesn't isn't that interesting. I'm not saying that there isn't a ton of hypocrisy, just suggesting that we hold ourselves to high standards so we can preserve the right to mock when stats are abused.
ReplyDeleteJust remember, not all Christians nor all Christian women are radical "anti abortionists".
DeleteMy mother and her friends are good Christian ladies in their 70s and 80s and they are adamant that women have the right to good reproductive health services and the right to make reproductive choices for themselves including abortions if they feel it's necessary.
Planned Parenthood has helped many, many teenagers with the abortion process. I know of a mother that assisted her teenage daughter when she went through the process - drove her and stayed with her when the procedure was done for about an hour before bringing her back home.
DeleteBoth feel today, that it was the best decision they made. She graduated from college, started her career, got married and has had two children since.
There are no regrets at all!
Exactly my first reaction. I know the point of the post is "Christian women have abortions" but the statistics are misleading without knowing the percent of the female population in each of these categories. I suspect the information is saying "all women have abortions at the same rate, regardless of stated religious affiliation" but I can't be sure with incomplete data.
DeleteThis is something the right (and marketing people) does all the time- graphs with no labels or with differences grossly over emphasized by not starting at "zero", implying cause from mere correlations, etc. Check out "How to Lie with Statistics" a golden oldie from 1954.
I felt the same way about the statistics. Christians make up a larger number of the population, so a larger number of Christian women seeking abortions is not necessarily surprising. Except that, according to their religious beliefs, the number of Christian women seeking an abortion should be zero. And that's what makes these numbers interesting.
DeleteHow about we break it down to the percentage of Christians teaching abstinence only and forbidding birth control and the number of abortions for that group, versus the groups that allow birth control?
DeleteBet the first group is going to be larger.
Yeah, the repubs are allowed choice but others are not. Well at least less repubs.
ReplyDeleteFrom the article: they are died in the wool
ReplyDeleteWhat should it mean for a person to end his/her life in wool???
In contrast to this expression, there is one that sounds about the same, but makes sense. It "comes from the fact that fabric can be dyed in a number of ways. The woven fabric may be dyed after it is complete, or the threads may be dyed before they are woven. When a color is "dyed in the wool," the wool itself is dyed before being spun into threads, so the colour is least likely to fade or change." https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/dyed-in-the-wool
A few years ago, I read an interview with a woman who worked as a volunteer safety escort at an abortion clinic. She and others walked with patients into the clinic to protect them from the protesters. She said several of the protesters had been protesting regularly for years so the employees and volunteers became quite familiar with them. There were several of them she had seen in the clinic with their daughters for an abortion and they still took their place in the group of protesters. She personally helped one of them in the clinic and the woman said to her "I still consider you to be a murderer".
ReplyDeleteThese people are absolutely nuts.
And the biggest hypocrites in the world.
DeleteShe knew them?
I'd be calling them out every day they showed their face.
ReplyDeleteWhich leads to only one conclusion. When it comes to baby murdering none of us can hold a candle to Christians.
Stupid, stupid stupid comment Gryph. Things like this are not helping.
8:27 AM The truth is hard to swallow.
DeleteChristians comprise 68% of abortions.
DeleteAtheists 4%.
Now that could be because Atheists practice birth control and Christians don't and stress abstinence only.
But no matter.
What it does show is just as Republicans are the Party of Hypocrites, Christians are the religion of Hypocrites.
Sometimes the truth isn't pretty. That doesn't make it less so.
Atheist - smart and educated and use 'birth control'!
ReplyDeleteChristians - not educated and, I guess, think their God will protect them from getting pregnant so they don't use birth control as well or as much?
It's truly not difficult to NOT get pregnant when having sex! I used 'the pill' for many years and got pregnant once, when it was planned! Simple as that. No abortions needed!
I've had both an abortion, and a unfortunate loss of an intended pregnancy.
ReplyDeleteI'm moral, whether I am Christian, or an atheist. I don't regret it and it has never weighed on my conscious.
Family Planning is a fundamental human right and an inalienable Constitutional right.
Not if the fundamental right wing Christian Republicans get their way.
DeleteSmug? When using abortion as birth control ( which many are) there is no one who should be smug.
ReplyDeleteIMO, Sex Ed should be taught in schools nationwide. Maybe PP could do a series of presentations to middle and high schools. Making a point that most abortions happen because of lack of birth control. Watch the abortion numbers plummet when those kids visit PP.
Can you imagine Bible Belt schools letting PP in to do presentations? I'd like some of what you're smokin'
DeleteGryphen,
ReplyDeleteHaving an abortion isn't a sin or immoral. It is just a healthcare choice that some women make for themselves. Nor is aborting feti equivalent to murders.
Very disappointed in your choice of words in this article.
And I'm very disappointed that you could not pick up on the fact that I was mocking the religious fundamentalist talking points.
DeleteI guess we were both let down today.
9:16 AM Readind comprehension is not on your side.
Delete9:16 AM Reading comprehension is not on your side.
DeleteSo often in the comments section after an article online, I see such idiotic posts by conservative freaks who find a way to bring Obama into topics that have nothing to do with him and to start up with the "libtard media" all being out to get the GOP, etc. And I see so many comments attacking atheists when the subject is abortion. They always insist that it's atheists who are having the abortions and who don't care about life and who ruining our American society.
ReplyDeleteGryphen, di you participate in counter protests at your local PP? Do you donate some of your "search for truth" money to PP?
ReplyDeleteOf course not!
Delete1:19 PM How would you know, that is a private matter. What Gryphen does with his money is not your business, nosy rosie.
DeleteNot when he asks for donations, while criticizing SarahPAC.
Deletea) they're NOT babies
ReplyDeleteb) for the first trimester, they're little more than a collection of cells OF THE FEMALE'S BODY
c) if the "pro-life" nuts REALLY cared, they'd sign up to pay all of the potential mother's health-care bills and to SUPPORT THE CHILD FINANCIALLY if it were to be brought to term
Put your money where your mouth is, pro-lifer, or shut up and go home.
1. That would be science. You know how they feel about science.
Delete2. They should not only pay all of the health care costs but also be mandated to adopt the resulting babies. They don't get off on paying for foster care. They have to legally adopt them.
oh, and
ReplyDeleted) killing to save lives is like fucking to save virginity
LOL. More Catholics than Protestants.
ReplyDeleteWell, there's your lack of birth control.
All those anti-abortion whackos calling it "black birth control" better take a look. Because I know 27% of Catholics are not African American.
That 26% of Protestants? I'll be a large percentage are fundamentalists that don't allow birth control either.
Would be really interesting to see the overlap between those that do not allow birth control and the number of abortions.
I'd also like to see how many of these girls are the daughters of Ministers. Just sayin'