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Crawford, B.L. (2019, August 9-11). Knowledge and sentiment regarding Roe v. Wade before and after the confirmation of Justice Kavanaugh. Society for the Study of Social Problems (SSSP) Annual Meeting. New York, NY.
Klein, T.L.W., Crawford, B.L., & Jozkowski, K.N. (2019, August 9-11). Roe v. religion. Society for the Study of Social Problems (SSSP) Annual Meeting. New York, NY.
Abortion is a highly contentious topic in the United States. With the recent confirmation of Supreme Court Justice Brett Kavanaugh, many have questioned the future status of Roe v. Wade and, subsequently, access to abortion, which has largely been regulated by Christian politicians and Christian institutions in the United States (e.g., areas with higher percentages of Catholics have more restrictive abortion laws and less access to abortion; Gober, 1997). Specifically, religiousness, as identified by white Christians, has been correlated with less favorable attitudes toward abortion (Hess & Reub, 2005). While abortion attitudes of Christians in America have been studied (e.g., Evangelical opposition to abortion; Hoffman & Jonson, 2005), there is a dearth of research examining religious minorities’ attitudes toward abortion. Given the rise of immigrant non-Christians and the number of Americans identifying with no religion (Hout & Fischer, 2002), there is a need to better understand the views of religious minorities, including those with no religion (e.g. atheist). Thus, the present study (1) assesses abortion attitudes of religious minorities and (2) examines how abortion attitudes of religious minorities differ from Christian majorities in the U.S. We use a national sample of people in the U.S. (N = 2,697) purchased from Qualtrics. Our survey asks attitudes regarding Roe v. Wade and abortion. Most of the sample identified as Christian; 28% identified as Catholic, 23% identified as Evangelical, and 19% identified as another form of Christian (i.e., Mainline Christian or Mainline Protestant, Mormon, or Orthodox Christian). The remaining 30% of the sample identified as religious minorities: Jewish, Muslim, Buddhist, Hindu, Atheist, Agnostic, Scientology, or other. We also obtained the following identity-based demographic variables: political affiliation, pro-life/pro-choice affiliation, age, gender, and race/ethnicity. Preliminary findings suggest that respondents who identified as a religious minority were more supportive of Roe v. Wade and abortion than those identifying as Christian. Interestingly, the majority of participants across all religious groups identified as pro-choice and were supportive of Roe v. Wade to at least some degree. The vast majority of religious minorities identified as pro-choice, while a slimmer majority of Christians reported identifying as pro-choice and supportive of Roe v. Wade. Taken together, anti-abortion policies may not reflect the viewpoints of religious minorities and majorities in the United States. Understanding the views of increasing religious minorities, and those without a religious identity, are crucial in contextualizing United States policies, and the way they support or undermine minority identities.
Kaplan, A. M. (2019, August 9-11). Roe v. Wade knowledge and beliefs among Latinx US adults: Examining the influence of generation and language. Society for the Study of Social Problems (SSSP) Annual Meeting. New York, NY.