Nonreligious Americans Are The New Abortion Voters

By Daniel Cox and Amelia Thomson-DeVeaux
JUN. 29, 2023

When Roe v. Wade was overturned last year, many white evangelical Protestants didn’t just see the Supreme Court’s ruling as a political win — it was a spiritual victory. For decades, religious conservatives have been singularly focused on ending the constitutional right to abortion, a priority that few other demographic groups shared. White evangelical Protestants — a group that has, since the 1980s, voted overwhelmingly for Republicans — were much more likely than other religious groups to say that abortion was a high priority.

The fall of Roe appears to be changing that. In 2021, the share of religiously unaffiliated Americans (a group that includes atheists, agnostics and people who identify with no religion in particular) who said abortion was a critical issue started to rise. And for the first time in 2022, the year the Supreme Court overturned the federal right to abortion in Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization, the share of religiously unaffiliated Americans who said that abortion was a critical issue was higher than the share of white evangelicals who said the same.

Continued: https://fivethirtyeight.com/features/nonreligious-americans-are-the-new-abortion-voters/


Why is the South the Epicenter of Anti-Abortion Fervor?

Sarah Varney, Physician’s Weekly
Aug 2, 2021

Not so long ago, laws governing abortion in Massachusetts and Rhode Island were far more restrictive than those in the Deep South, as state legislators throughout New England regularly banned the procedure, no matter the circumstances, during the 1960s and ’70s.

Nowadays, however, the American South represents a hub of anti-abortion fervor, home to a series of laws and regulations that have eroded Roe v. Wade, as liberal states in the Northeast and elsewhere have enacted laws to codify that landmark 1973 Supreme Court decision.

Continued: https://www.physiciansweekly.com/why-is-the-south-the-epicenter-of-anti-abortion-fervor


USA – White evangelicals distinct on LGBTQ rights, abortion

White evangelicals distinct on LGBTQ rights, abortion
White evangelical Protestants stand noticeably apart from other religious people on how the government should act on these politically divisive issues.

Jan. 2, 2020
By Associated Press

White evangelical Protestants stand noticeably apart from other religious people on how the government should act on two of the most politically divisive issues at play in the 2020 presidential election, according to a new poll of Americans from various faith backgrounds.

Asked about significant restrictions on abortion — making it illegal except in cases of rape, incest or to threats to a mother’s life — 37 percent of all Americans responded in support, according to the poll conducted by The Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research. Those abortion limits drew 39 percent support from white mainline Protestants, 33 percent support from nonwhite Protestants and 45 percent support from Catholics, but 67 percent support from white evangelical Protestants.

Continued: https://www.nbcnews.com/feature/nbc-out/white-evangelicals-distinct-lgbtq-rights-abortion-n1109446