Religion often shapes someone’s view of abortion – but what about a woman’s actual decision?

September 25, 2025
Amy Adamczyk

Many factors can shape how someone views abortion – gender, age and education, to name a few. Around the world, however, religious belief is the most powerful predictor that someone will disapprove, as I document in my 2025 book, “Fetal Positions.” Faith traditions’ teachings about abortion vary – and there is diversity of opinions within faiths, too. On average, though, people who say that religion is important in their lives are far more likely to think abortion is morally wrong.

But here’s the paradox: There’s a difference between abstract views and personal decisions. On average, strong religious beliefs and involvement in a religious community do not make an American woman less likely to terminate her first pregnancy, so long as she conceives without a potential marriage partner.

Continued; https://theconversation.com/religion-often-shapes-someones-view-of-abortion-but-what-about-a-womans-actual-decision-265330

25.09.2025

National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent to Adult Health

religion and abortion

Tina Fetner

United States

Religion

Abortion ban in Russia: unofficially in force?

Amidst the war and the difficult demographic situation in Russia, pressure on women is increasing

Sep 12, 2025
Deutsche Welle

The authorities in Russia are in fact continuing to restrict women's access to abortions. Under pressure from the state, private clinics are increasingly refusing the procedure for terminating pregnancy or delaying it. In the Murmansk region, for example, there is an unofficial ban on medical abortions after the sixth week of pregnancy, human rights activists report. After this period, women are left with only the more traumatic methods: vacuum aspiration or curettage.

This is happening against the backdrop of the worsening demographic situation in Russia. After May of this year, the Russian authorities stopped publishing demographic statistics. Shortly before that, the independent analyst and former expert at "Rosstat" Alexey Raksha announced that in March, an absolute record number of births was set in Russia since such statistics were kept at the end of the 18th century.

Continued: https://fakti.bg/en/world/999830-abortion-ban-in-russia-unofficially-in-force

12.09.2025

religion and abortion

Russian Municipality

Russian Orthodox Church

Russian convent hands out plastic fetuses to women in anti-abortion campaign

July 30, 2025

A convent in the Russian city of Chelyabinsk recently organized a campaign of handing out plastic fetuses to local women in an effort to discourage abortions, according to the independent outlet 7×7.

The initiative was held in shopping centers, libraries, at city festivals, and on university campuses. Volunteers and activists from the Odigitrievsky Convent claimed afterwards that their efforts had “saved 658 lives,” a local Telegram news channel reported.

Continued: https://meduza.io/en/news/2025/07/30/russian-convent-hands-out-plastic-fetuses-to-women-in-anti-abortion-campaign

30.07.2025

News

anti-choice harassment

anti-choice intimidation

anti-choice misogyny

anti-choice violence

Odigitrievsky Convent

religion and abortion

Russia

Anti-choice

Brazil’s Conservative Legislative Branch Looks to Further Outlaw Abortion

New proposed law echoes other anti-abortion legislation in the region.

BY JEFF ABBOTT
JUNE 21, 2024

Religiously inspired political leaders in Brazil have fast-tracked a regressive anti-abortion law in the South American country’s conservative controlled congress.

The law seeks to further criminalize abortions in Brazil, equating abortions after twenty-two weeks with homicide. This would apply in cases where the pregnant person was a victim of rape as well and could result in prison sentences of six to twenty years in prison. The proposed law is a rollback of decades-old protections in Brazil and would result in longer prison sentences than are currently given to people convicted of rape.

Continued: https://progressive.org/latest/brazil%E2%80%99s-conservative-legislative-branch-abbott-20240621/

Support for legal abortion is widespread in many places, especially in Europe

BY JANELL FETTEROLF AND LAURA CLANCY
May 15, 2024

Majorities in most of the 27 places around the world that Pew Research Center surveyed in 2023 and 2024 say abortion should be legal in all or most cases. But attitudes differ widely – even within places. Religiously unaffiliated adults, people on the ideological left and women are more likely to support legal abortion in many places.

A median of 66% of adults across the 27 places surveyed believe abortion should be legal in all or most cases, while a median of 30% believe it should be illegal in all or most cases.||

Continued: https://www.pewresearch.org/short-reads/2024/05/15/support-for-legal-abortion-is-widespread-in-many-countries-especially-in-europe/

15.05.2024

Research

abortion poll

Center for Reproductive Rights

gender and abortion

Pew Research Center

public support for abortion

religion and abortion

As U.S. Faces a Rising Tide of Abortion Bans and Restrictions, France Enshrines Freedom of Access in the Constitution

The U.S. and France offer starkly different environments for women—but both countries share a strong feminist tradition. How do we explain their radically different abortion trajectories?

3/27/2024
by SHOSHANNA EHRLICH and LAURA FRADER, Ms. Magazine

In 2023, seeking “to avoid a U.S.-like scenario for women in France, as hard-right groups are gaining ground,” President Emmanuel Macron promised a constitutional amendment affirming women’s right to abortion and to control over their own bodies. The amendment subsequently passed by a crushing majority of 780 to 72 votes and was inserted ceremoniously into the French Constitution on March 8, 2024, International Women’s Day.

In celebration, the Eiffel Tower was lit up with the message “My Body, My Choice.” This global first came approximately 50 years after the French Parliament first voted to decriminalize abortion with the passage of the Veil Law, named for feminist minister of health Simone Veil, who championed the reform.

Continued: https://msmagazine.com/2024/03/27/france-abortion-usa-bans-constitution-right/

Frozen embryos are “children,” according to Alabama’s Supreme Court

IVF often produces more embryos than are needed or used.

BETH MOLE
2/20/2024

The Alabama Supreme Court on Friday ruled that frozen embryos are "children," entitled to full personhood rights, and anyone who destroys them could be liable in a wrongful death case.

…"Human life cannot be wrongfully destroyed without incurring the wrath of a holy God, who views the destruction of His image as an affront to Himself," Chief Justice Tom Parker wrote. "Even before birth, all human beings bear the image of God, and their lives cannot be destroyed without effacing his glory."

Continued: https://arstechnica.com/science/2024/02/frozen-embryos-are-children-according-to-alabamas-supreme-court/

20.02.2024

News

Alabama Supreme Court

Barbara Collura

Chief Justice Tom Parker

embryo personhood

National Infertility Association

religion and abortion

Catholic activists work to help Hispanic women reconcile abortion rights with their religious faith

Jan 28, 2024

In a corner of their Mexico City office, activists from Catholics for the Right to Decide keep an image of the Virgin Mary close to a green scarf that reads: “Mary was consulted to be mother of God.”

For these Catholic women, prayer does not conflict with their fight for abortion access nor does their devotion to Our Lady of Guadalupe prevent them from supporting LGBTQ+ rights.

“You might think that one cannot be a feminist and a Catholic,” said activist Cinthya Ramírez. “But being women of faith does not mean that we oppose progressivity, human rights or sexual diversity.”

Continued: https://www.milwaukeeindependent.com/newswire/catholic-activists-work-help-hispanic-women-reconcile-abortion-rights-religious-faith/

Canadians’ Attitudes Toward Abortion

A review and synthesis of evidence based literature

Jessica Pratezina and Jessica Ball
January 12, 2024

In 1988, Canada became one of the few countries in the world without legal restrictions on abortion. There are no federal or provincial laws controlling abortion; it's considered a medical matter between a person and their healthcare provider. Abortion is seen as an essential medical service covered by the Canadian healthcare system.

… What do Canadians Think and Feel about Abortion?
Most Canadians (56%) want abortion to be safe and legal. At the same time, Canadians' attitudes towards abortion are more complicated than can be captured in opinion polls. These complex attitudes impact not only whether people are able to choose abortion, but also what their experience will be like if and when they do.

Continued: https://storymaps.arcgis.com/stories/28ca3bb9e0ad45f28a68d677eda6baee

12.01.2024

Research

Canadian attitudes to abortion

Jessica Ball

Jessica Pratezina

religion and abortion

Canada

Health

Human Rights

What does a total abortion ban look like in Dominican Republic?

BY MARÍA TERESA HERNÁNDEZ
January 2, 2024

SANTO DOMINGO, Dominican Republic (AP) — The Dominican Republic is one of four Latin American nations that criminalizes abortion without exceptions. Women face up to 2 years in prison for having an abortion, while the penalties for doctors or midwives range from 5 to 20 years. Abortion rights activists argue that the country’s total abortion ban not only restricts women’s reproductive choices but also puts their lives in danger.

Here’s a look at the country’s ban.

Continued: https://apnews.com/article/dominican-republic-abortion-ban-women-catholic-church-5890252153c3b451b16b62b4aa3fe26d