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Recent research has noted a negative relationship between ideal family size (IFS) and proabortion attitudes (AA) which is independent of religious affiliation. The present investigation extends the investigation of this relationship in several ways. First, we find considerable variation in abortion attitudes among the Protestant denominations; this finding warrants a denomination-specific analysis. Second, controlling for religious affiliation within Protestantism, we find numerous examples of the spuriousness of the IFS-AA relationship. Third, the 1973 U.S. Supreme Court decision regarding abortion is found to have limited impact on the number of significant associations between IFS and AA. At the same time, for most denominations, IFS remains a significant predictor of AA. Fourth, we assess the importance of IFS relative to seven other independent variables in a multiple regression analysis and find that IFS is a significant predictor of an index of overall abortion attitudes. While Renzi's hypothesis is therefore successfully extended in each stage of this analysis, numerous exceptions appear, particularly for denominations with strong proabortion sentiments. Finally, we note that IFS may have a limited history as a predictor variable if a national consensus emerges around the two child family. Research on the relationship between religious affiliation and attitudes towards abortion has shown a consistent pattern, that is, those who express a religious commitment in one form or another, or who attend church regularly, are less likely to support proabortion stands than those with weaker or no church linkages. Renzi (1975) further reported that people's family size preference (PFS) acted as an intervening variable between religion and abortion attitudes. 1 More recently, Arney and Trescher (1976) clarified the relation between religious denomination and attitudes toward abortion by controlling for religious participation. They found littler difference in the distributions of responses of Catholics and Protestants who attended church less than once a month. Among Catholics and Protestants who attended church more than once a month (called the more committed), Catholics were more likely than Protestants to oppose abortion. In addition, Arney and Trescher (1976) note, since the Supreme Court decision of 1973 in favor of abortion, a "substantial increase in approval of abortion among both committed Protestants and Catholics, although the increase among Protestants is for soft reasons (see explanation below) while among Catholics this increase is for hard reasons only" (p. 120).

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