Practice What You Preach: Complicating the Relationship among Christian Religious Identity, Abortion Attitudes, and Reported Abortion Experiences among Canadians

Abstract

Abortion providers often report having patients who describe abortion as immoral, even while accessing abortion care. According to these anecdotes, antiabortion identities, frequently depicted as tied to religious identities, are not necessarily reflected in individuals’ lived experiences. Yet social science research and political rhetoric tend to suggest a straightforward connection between religion and antiabortion beliefs and practices. The authors ask, does religion have a greater impact on attitudes toward abortion than on personal decisions to terminate one’s own pregnancy? Using an original survey of Canadian women ( n = 1,181), the authors examine religious affiliation and attendance, abortion attitudes, and self-reported abortion experience. Religious affiliation and attendance predict abortion attitudes to a greater extent than they predict abortion behavior. The authors use Burke’s concept of polysemic categories to argue that personal meanings of religious affiliation may be more salient for attitudes toward abortion than for the personal decision to access abortion care.