USA: The effects of personal and school religiosity on the decision to abort a premarital pregnancy

This study looks at whether individual and school religiosity influence reported abortion behaviour among women who become pregnant while unmarried. From the Journal of Health and Social Behaviour.

The author writes that although much research has examined the relationship between religion and abortion attitudes, few studies have examined whether religion influences abortion behaviour. This study looks at whether individual and school religiosity influence reported abortion behaviour among women who become pregnant while unmarried.

Hierarchical Logistic Models are implemented to analyse two waves of data from the National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent Health. Findings show that personal religiosity is unrelated to reported abortion behaviour. However, conservative Protestants appear less likely to obtain abortions than mainline Protestants, Catholics, and women of non-Christian faiths.

The author concludes that regardless of personal religious affiliation, having attended a school with a high proportion of conservative Protestants appears to discourage abortion as women enter their twenties. Conversely, women from private religious high schools appear more likely to report obtaining an abortion than women from public schools.

Department of Sociology, John Jay College of Criminal Justice, 899 10th Ave., Suite #520, New York, NY 10019, USA.

Understanding the effects of personal and school religiosity on the decision to abort a premarital pregnancy. Adamczyk A. Journal of Health and Social Behaviour. 2009 Jun;50(2):180-95.