The Religious Support for Abortion

As more extreme abortion laws are passed in America, and the world’s most senior Catholic cleric pronounces that abortion is never ok under any circumstances, we are sailing into dangerous territory.

Of the 42 million abortions performed across the world, 20 million of them are unsafe.[i] An estimated 68,000 people die from unsafe abortions each year making it one of the biggest contributors to the global maternal death rate.[ii] Yet at the same time, restrictive laws backed by the Pope[iii] and dressed up as a religious crusade to protect the sanctity of life are paving the way for the number of unsafe abortions to rise.

In the United States, the restriction of abortion has gone hand-in-hand with a stated belief in God. In 2014, a Pew Foundation study found that of Americans who believe absolutely in God, 79% also believed that abortion should be illegal in most, if not all cases.[iv]

Abortion and religion have not always been in conflict, however.

In the days before Roe v. Wade, senior clergy figures across America and Canada were instrumental in providing underground access to abortions in an attempt to stem the tide of maiming and death taking place from botched backyard abortions.

The Clergy Consultation Service (CCS) facilitated access for thousands of women to safe, albeit underground, abortions from registered medical practitioners.

As some of the most trusted people in the community, people turned to the clergy for advice on a variety of issues, including unplanned pregnancies. It was this position of trust in the 1950s and 1960s that revealed to members of the Clergy the extent of the illegal abortion crisis in America.[v]

Founded out of the Judson Memorial Church in New York City in May 1967, the group comprised of Protestant Ministers, Priests and Rabbis. The network quickly spread across the country and eventually took in nearly 3,000 Clergy members who operated illegally alongside medical professionals. By the time Roe v. Wade was implemented, the network had provided safe abortion access to an estimated 450,000 women.[vi]

The network is still going strong today under the name The Religious Coalition for Reproductive Choice. The Coalition provides a religious moral framework to support access to vital reproductive rights including access to abortions.

Most recently, the Coalition has argued that the passing of extreme abortion laws in Alabama, Ohio and Georgia challenge the notion of religious freedom by characterising conservative Christianity as the only legitimate form of religious debate in the abortion issue.

In a statement released after Governor Ivey signed the Alabama Abortion Bill, the Coalition stated; “We are Christians, Jews, people of other faiths and of no faith… we demand accountability from our elected officials in protecting religious liberty, which requires ensuring that no one set of religious beliefs is ever imposed on us all. That’s our right as Americans.”

The dominant religious discourse that is driving restrictive abortions laws incorporates the idea of the sanctity of life. However, what this discourse fails to understand is that when life actually begins is a point of conjecture for so many religions, including the Catholic faith.[vii]

This same discourse does little to acknowledge the sanctity of life for the person being forced to continue a pregnancy. Particularly the potentially fatal consequences if they take matters into their own hands.

The views expressed by the Pope and those who have driven America’s recent restrictive laws are a backward step for the health of many pregnant people. They are also an infringement on the religious views of millions of people who do not support forcing people to continue pregnancies.

Speaking on this very issue nearly 50 years ago, the Reverend Charles Landreth of the First Presbyterian Church in Tallahassee Florida explained; “Whenever we try to make conditions for each other more human, we are engaged in religious pursuit. Christians and the Christian church simply cannot turn their backs on the problem of abortion and the dilemmas which it creates.”

With the repeated threats to Roe. V. Wade, America and many other parts of the world are entering into a situation that will cost the lives of many desperate people. It is time that the world heard the millions of religious voices that have been silenced by domineering Christian conservatism.

Jacquie O’Brien is Director of Public Affairs & Policy at Marie Stopes Australia

[i] Haddad LB, Nour NM. Unsafe abortion: unnecessary maternal mortality. Rev Obstet Gynecol. 2009;2(2):122–126.

[ii] IBID

[iii] Horowitz, J. Pope Francis Says Abortion, Even of a Sick Fetus, Is Like Hiring a ‘Hitman’. May 25 2019. New York Times

[iv] Pew Research Centre’s Religion and Public Life Project. Religious Landscape Study 2014.

[v] Frank, G. The Surprising Role of Clergy in the Abortion Fight Before Roe v. Wade. May 2 2017. Time.

[vi] Arlene, C. Abortion counseling and social change — from illegal act to medical practice: the story of the Clergy Consultation Service on Abortion. Moody, Howard, 1921–2012,. Valley Forge, Pa.

[vii] Strauss, E. When Does Life Begin? It’s Not So Simple.