Religion, Politics, and Public Funding for Abortion

Abstract

An abundance of research examines Americans' attitudes toward abortion legality and morality with particular attention to polarization around this issue and the influence of social movements, religious organizations, the media, and political leaders. There is a relative dearth, however, of research focusing on attitudes toward the public funding of abortion services. Using three national, random samples of American adults, we address this gap in the literature. We find that the oft-cited "bipartisan consensus" around opposition to public funding of abortion is a myth. In fact, there is more bipartisan consensus around abortion legality than abortion funding, across religious traditions. As national debates about abortion funding intensify, these findings underscore the importance of future surveys consistently measuring Americans'attitudes toward public funding of abortion, above and beyond abortion legality or morality.

To Be Safe and Seen: BIPOC Gen Z Engagement in Evangelical Campus Ministries

“…Indeed, a growing body of research suggests that the rise of the religiously disaffiliated, particularly apparent among Gen Zs, is partly a backlash against the intolerant politics of the religious right (Batchelder 2020;Braunstein et al 2022;Kim 2023;Manalang 2021). As the most racially diverse generation yet, Gen Zs tend to be politically progressive and activist and turned off by hierarchy, inequality, and intolerance (Kaplan 2020;Katz et al 2021;Rue 2018;Twenge 2017Twenge , 2023.…”