Results not up to their expectations.

There is no doubt that the Christian community is the driving force behind the anti-abortion movement in America. A review of outside literature from the Pew Research Center tells us where major religious groups stand on abortion.

Some religious groups have little or no ambivalence about abortion. For example, the largest denomination in the country – the a Roman Catholic church – opposes abortion by everything terms. The second largest church, the The Southern Baptist Convention also opposes abortion, although it allows an exception in cases where the mother’s life is in danger.

Other major religious groups that oppose abortion, with few exceptions, include the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints (Mormons) and the Assemblies of God, the largest Pentecostal denomination in the United States. Hindu teaching is also generally opposed to abortion.

It is intuitive to assume that Christian women would have fewer abortions than women of different religious preferences or women who are not affiliated with any religion, but that is not the case.

Christian women are having abortions at the same rate as non-Christian Americans.

In one study, Pew Research tells us that in the United States, Christianity is on the decline, and in 2015, 70% of Americans identified as Christian. In the same year, a Christian abortion network, Care Net, commissioned a study on abortion by Lifeway Research, a Christian research organization. Their findings? Not what one would expect.

In 2015, 70% of abortions were performed on Christian women, exactly the same percentage as Americans who identify as Christians.

Care Net – Lifestyle Research Study

The study commissioned by Care Net and conducted by Lifeway Research was quite extensive. There were about 90 questions. The report is 95 pages. Below are just a few of the many interesting finds.

Methodology

• A demographically balanced online panel was used to interview American women between May 6 and May 13, 2015
• Quotas and light weights were used to ensure the sample matched national totals for ethnicity, age, income and region
• This nationally balanced sample was selected to include only women who indicated that they had ever had a medical procedure for termination of pregnancy/abortion
• The completed sample is 1,038 surveys

page 32

• Seven in 10 (70%) women who have had an abortion say their religious preference is Christian

page 36

• 52% of congregants who have had an abortion have no one at church who knows they had a termination

page 42

• 44% say they attended a Christian church at least once a month or more at the time they aborted their child.
• 20 percent of respondents attended church at least once a week at the time of their first termination.
• 6% said they go to church more than once a week.
• 54% said they rarely or never attend church

page 12

• 76% of women say local churches had no influence on their decision to terminate their pregnancy

page 18

• 30% of women who have had an abortion indicate that they have had more than one pregnancy termination or abortion

page 20

• 49% of women who have had an abortion agree that pastors’ teachings on forgiveness don’t seem to apply to terminated pregnancies

Anti-abortion Christians certainly want you to think they are holier than you on the issue of abortion. Hypocrite is a perfect description for conservative Christians who call themselves pro-life but don’t want to fund daycare, food programs, etc. for babies born into economically disadvantaged families.