Hostname: page-component-745bb68f8f-l4dxg Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2025-01-11T22:36:06.181Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

The Subjective Bases of Abortion Attitudes: A Cross National Comparison of Religious Traditions

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  24 July 2014

Ted G. Jelen
Ted G. Jelen*
Affiliation:
University of Nevada, Las Vegas
*
Address correspondence and reprint requests to: Ted G. Jelen, Department of Political Science, University of Nevada, Las Vegas, 4505 Maryland Parkway, Las Vegas, NV 89154-5029. E-mail: [email protected]
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

The subjective correlates of abortion attitudes for six different religious traditions (Roman Catholicism, Protestantism, Eastern Orthodoxy, Buddhism, Hinduism, and Islam). For all six groups, attitudes toward sexual morality exhibit the strongest relationship with abortion attitudes, followed by the effects of attitudes toward human life. Gender role attitudes are much less powerful predictors of abortion attitudes. Further, the multivariate models which explain abortion attitudes are remarkably similar across religious traditions, with inter-religious differences largely being attributable to differences in the marginal distributions of the independent variables.

Type
Articles
Information
Politics and Religion , Volume 7 , Issue 3 , September 2014 , pp. 550 - 567
Copyright
Copyright © Religion and Politics Section of the American Political Science Association 2014 

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

REFERENCES

Abdul Hussain, Arif. 2005. “Ensoulment and the Prohibition of Abortion in Islam.” Islam and Christian-Muslim Relations 16: 239–250.Google Scholar
Adamczyk, Amy. 2013. “The Effect of Personal Religiosity on Attitudes toward Abortion, Divorce, and Gender Equality.” EurAmerica 43: 213–253.Google Scholar
Alamri, Y.A. 2011. “Islam and Abortion.” Journal of the Islamic Medical Association 43: 39–40.Google Scholar
Al-Sharq al-Awzat 1994. “Islam Forbids Attack on the Fetus by Abortion.” September 8.Google Scholar
Aramesh, Kiarach. 2007. “Abortion: An Islamic Ethical View.” Iranian Journal of Allergy, Asthma, and Immunology 6: 29–33.Google Scholar
Baker, Ross K., Epstein, Laurily K., and Forth, Rodney D.. 1981. “Matters of Life and Death: Social, Political, and Religious Correlates to Attitudes toward Abortion.” American Politics Quarterly 9: 89–102.Google Scholar
Ben-Nun Bloom, Pazit, and Arikan, Aizem. 2012. “A Two-Edged Sword: The Differential Effect of Religious Belief and Religious Social Context on Attitudes toward Democracy.” Political Behavior 34: 249–276.Google Scholar
Bernardin, Joseph. 1988. A Consistent Ethic of Life. Chicago, IL: Sheed and Ward.Google Scholar
Bowen, Donna Lee. 1997. “Abortion, Islam, and the 1994 Cairo Population Conference.” International Journal of Middle Eastern Studies 29: 161–184.Google Scholar
Connery, John. 1977. Abortion: The Development of the Roman Catholic Perspective. Chicago, IL: University of Chicago Press.Google Scholar
Converse, Phillip E. 1964. “The Nature of Belief Systems in Mass Publics.” In Ideology and Discontent, ed. Apter, David. New York, NY: Free Press, 206–264.Google Scholar
Converse, Phillip E. 1969. “Of Time and Partisan Stability.” Comparative Political Studies 2: 139–171.Google Scholar
Converse, Phillip E., and Dupeux, Georges. 1966. “Politicization of the Electorate in France and the United States,” In Elections and the Political Order, eds. Campbell, Angus, Converse, Phillip E., Miller, Warren E., and Stokes, Donald T.. New York, NY: Wiley, 269–291.Google Scholar
Cook, Elizabeth Adell, Ted Jelen, G., and Wilcox, Clyde. 1992. Between Two Absolutes: Public Opinion and the Politics of Abortion. Boulder, CO: Westview.Google Scholar
Cowall, Alan, 1994. “Despite Abortion Issue, Population Pact Nears.” New York Times September 9.Google Scholar
Damien, Constantin-Julian. 2010. “Abortion From the Perspective of Eastern Religions: Hinduism and Buddhism.” Romanian Journal of Bioethics 8: 124–136.Google Scholar
Dillon, Michele. 1995. “Religion and Culture in Tension: The Abortion Discourses of the US Catholic Bishops and the Southern Baptist Convention.” Religion and American Culture: A Journal of Interpretation 5: 159–180.Google Scholar
The Economist 2013. “Miscarriages of Justice.” June 8, 60.Google Scholar
Falwell, Jerry. ed. 1981. How You Can Help Clean Up America. Lynchberg, VA: Moral Majority.Google Scholar
Fisher, M. Steven. 2011. Are Muslims Distinctive? A Look at the Evidence New York, NY: Oxford University Press.Google Scholar
Florida, R. E. 1991. “Buddhist Approaches to Abortion.” Asian Philosophy 1: 39–51.Google Scholar
Garvey, Fr. John. 1996. “Orthodox Christians and Abortion.” Orthodox Church in America http://oca.org/the-hub/the-church-on-current-issues/orthodox-christians-and-abortion (Accessed on March 22, 2014).Google Scholar
Green, John C. 2010. The Faith Factor: How Religion Influences American Elections. Washington, DC: Potomac Books.Google Scholar
Harvey, P. 2000. An Introduction to Buddhist Ethics: Foundations, Values, and Issues. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar
Hedayat, K.M., Shooshtarizadeh, P., and Raza, M.. 2006. “Therapeutic Abortion in Islam: Contemporary Views of Muslim Shiite Scholars and Effect of Recent Iranian Legislation.” Journal of Medical Ethics 32: 652–657.Google Scholar
Jain, Sandhya. 2003. “The Right to Family Planning, Contraception, and Abortion: The Hindu View.” In Sacred Rights: The Case for Contraception and Abortion in World Religions, eds. Maguire, Daniel C. New York, NY: Oxford University Press.Google Scholar
Jelen, Ted G. 1984. “Respect for Life, Sexual Morality, and Opposition to Abortion.” Review of Religious Research 25: 220–231.Google Scholar
Jelen, Ted G. 1988. “Changes in the Attitudinal Correlates of Opposition to Abortion.” Journal for the Scientific Study of Religion 27: 211–228.Google Scholar
Jelen, Ted G. 1990. “Religious Belief and Attitude Constraint.” Journal for the Scientific Study of Religion 29: 118–125.Google Scholar
Jelen, Ted G., and Doc Bradley, Jonathan. 2014. “Abortion Opinion in Emerging Democracies: Central Europe and Latin America.” Politics, Groups, and Identities 2: 51–65.Google Scholar
Jelen, Ted G., and Tamadonfar, Mehran. 2011. “Islam and Roman Catholicism as Transnational Political Phenomena: Notes for a Comparative Research Program.” 2: 536–548.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Jelen, Ted G., and Wilcox, Clyde. 2003. “Causes and Consequences of Public Attitudes toward Abortion: A Review and Research Agenda.” Political Research Quarterly 56: 489–500.Google Scholar
Jelen, Ted G., and Wilcox, Clyde. 2005. “Continuity and Change in Attitudes toward Abortion: Poland and the United States.” Politics and Gender 1: 297–317.Google Scholar
Lipner, J.J. 1989. “The Classical Hindu View on Abortion and the Moral Status of the Unborn.” In Hindu Ethics: Purity, Abortion, and Euthanasia, eds. Coward, H.G., Lipner, J. J., and Young, Katherine K.. Albany, NY: SUNY Press.Google Scholar
Luker, Kristin. 1985. Abortion and the Politics of Motherhood. Berkeley, CA: University of California Press.Google Scholar
Lyall, Sarah. 2010. “European Court Rules against Irish Abortion Law.” New York Times December 16.Google Scholar
New York Times. 2007. “Polish Woman Who Was Denied Abortion Wins in EU Court.” May 20.Google Scholar
Noonan, John T. Jr. 1970. “An Almost Absolute Value in History.” In The Morality of Abortion: Legal and Historical Perspectives, ed. Noonan, John T. Jr. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.Google Scholar
Orthodox Christian Information Center. 1988. “An Orthodox View of Abortion: The Amicus Curiae Brief Submitted to the Supreme Court.” http://orthodoxinfo.com/praxis/abortion.aspx (Accessed on March 22, 2014).Google Scholar
Rossi, Maximo, and Triunto, Patricia. 2012. “Abortion en Uruguay y America Latina: El Posiciomamiento de las Ciudadanos (Enlish translation here).” Equidad Desarrollo 18: 9–21.Google Scholar
Schaeffer, Francis 2005. How Should We Then Live?: The Rise and Decline of Western Thought and Culture. Wheaton, IL: Crossway.Google Scholar
Sekaleshfar, Farrokh B. 2008. “Abortion Perspectives of Shiah Islam.” Studies in Ethics, Law, and Technology 2: 1–15.Google Scholar
Staggenborg, Suzanne. 1994. The Pro-Choice Movement: Organization and Activism in the Abortion Conflict. New York, NY: Oxford University Press.Google Scholar
Tuman, John P. Roth-Johnson, Danielle, and Jelen, Ted G.. 2014. “Context and Conscience: Attitudes toward Abortion in Mexico.” Social Science Quarterly 94: 100–112.Google Scholar
Waldman, Peter. 1994. “Population Conference Fallout is Feared.” Wall Street Journal 2 September.Google Scholar
Williams, Daniel. 2010. God's Own Party: The Making of the Christian Right. New York, NY: Oxford University Press.Google Scholar
Zaller, John R. 1992. The Nature and Origins of Mass Opinion. New York, NY: Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar