Americans age 18 to 29 years old strongly support the availability of abortions in their local communities despite being conflicted over its morality, a new study finds.
“The Millennials, Abortion and Religion Survey,” conducted by Public Religion Research Institute, is one of the largest public opinion surveys on abortion and religion ever conducted. The survey also finds large generational differences on two issues that often have been linked in political discourse: abortion and same-sex marriage.
“Millennials embody the decoupling of the so-called ‘values voter’ agenda,” said Dr. Robert P. Jones, CEO of Public Religion Research Institute. “On the issue of abortion, Millennials mirror their parents’ views, with about six in10 saying abortion should be legal in all or most cases; but they are much more supportive than their parents of allowing gay and lesbian couples to marry. This suggests we may see these issues moving on separate tracks in the future.”
The new survey also finds that when given the opportunity, approximately two-thirds of all Americans describe themselves simultaneously as “pro-choice” and “pro-life.”
“On the issue of abortion, many Americans hold complex views and fluid identities,” said Daniel Cox, PRRI Research Director. “For some time now, Americans have held a stable tension between two views: majorities both say abortion is morally wrong and that it should be legal in all or most cases. The binary ‘pro-life’ and ‘pro-choice’ labels don’t reflect this complexity.”
Among the study’s other findings:
* A solid majority of Americans say abortion should be legal in all (19%) or most (37%) cases, compared to four in 10 who say it should be illegal in all (14%) or most (26%) cases. With the exception of white evangelical Protestants, majorities of every major religious group say abortion should be legal in all or most cases.
* Nearly six in 10 (58%) Americans say at least some health care professionals in their communities should provide legal abortions.
* Majorities of Americans simultaneously say abortion is morally wrong (52%) and that it should be legal in all or most cases (56%).
* The study identified and tested a number of hypotheses about independent influences on attitudes about the legality of abortion. Among these, having seen MTV’s reality shows about unmarried pregnant teenagers has a positive impact on support for the legality of abortion, while recently seeing an ultrasound has a negative impact on support for the legality of abortion.
* Among Americans who attend church at least once or twice a month, majorities report hearing clergy talk about the issue of abortion (54%) or homosexuality (51%) in church. Catholics are significantly more likely than Protestants to hear about abortion in church.
* More than seven in 10 (72%) religious Americans believe it is possible to disagree with the teachings of their religion on the issue of abortion and still be considered a person of good standing in their faith. A majority of all major religious groups, including Catholics and white evangelical Protestants agree with this statement.
