This study examines the association between religion and attitudes toward the practice of abortion and abortion policy in Brazil. Drawing upon data from the 2002 Brazilian Social Research Survey (BSRS), we test a number of hypotheses with regard to the role of religion on opposition to the practice of abortion and its legalization. Findings indicate that frequently attending Pentecostals demonstrate the strongest opposition to the practice of abortion and both frequently attending Pentecostals and Catholics demonstrate the strongest opposition to its legalization. Additional religious factors, such as a commitment to biblical literalism, were also found to be significantly associated with opposition to both abortion issues. Ultimately, the findings have implications for the future of public policy on abortion and other contentious social issues in Brazil.

The results presented in this study are encouraging insofar as they show that Protestant adolescents, particularly Pentecostals, have a reduced risk of adolescent premarital motherhood. This result was not expected, given that Pentecostalism predominates in the less advantaged population groups, with lower incomes and levels of education and residence in urban areas, where adolescent fertility is also concentrated in Brazil. Future studies must be undertaken with the purpose of understanding how the various mechanisms of religious influence operate in the life and behavior of adolescents in Brazil.

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Religion is becoming an important and highly present factor in the lives

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