Catholics' Use of Abortion

Abstract

This study considers the methodological difficulties involved in studying abortion behavior and religious preference and uses the conception cohort as a way of handling problems of sampling and comparison. It was hypothesized that Catholic women would havefewer abortions than non-Catholic women according to (1) their proportion in the overall population and (2) their proportion in the pregnant population. Using demographic and medical data collected from hospital records on all abortion patients in the state of Hawaii and all maternity patients during the designated two-month period, a conception cohort was constructed. When the hypothesis was tested using the conception cohort, Catholics werefound to have chosen abortion less often than non-Catholic women. Catholic women had a higher rate of pregnancies, but terminated a smaller proportion of these pregnancies by abortion. No difference was found between Catholics and non-Catholics with respect to gestation time and length of time from discovery of pregnancy to abortion. The relationship between religion and marital fertility has been well studied (Lenski, 1961; Spaeth, 1968; Whelpton, Campbell and Patterson, 1966; Westoff, Potter and Sagi, 1963; Hawthorn, 1970; Westoff and Ryder, 1971; and Westoff and Westoff, 1971). Much of the literature has centered on the relationship between religion, desired family size, and methods of fertility control. Early studies demonstrated a clear relationship between religiousness of Catholics and higher desired family size (Westoff, Potter, Sagi, Mishler, 1961; Campbell, Freedman, Whelpton, 1956), which in turn was found to be related to greater reliance of Catholics on the rhythm method of birth control, or a general avoidance of fertility control measures (Westoff, Potter, Sagi, and Mishler, 1961). The latest study (Westoffet al., 1973) suggests a new convergence between Protestant and Catholic family size preferences. Also, a recent opinion poll (Gallup, 1971) reported only 28% of the Catholics and 22% of the Protestants saying four or more is the ideal number of children. These findings suggest that the Catholic Church's teachings regarding fertility control have had some impact upon both attitudes and behavior, although the latest evidence suggests the possibility that this impact is diminishing. In recent years the Church has expressed firm opposition to abortion, and Catholic clergy have been active in political efforts to forestall the legalization or