Abstract
Recent research has noted a negative relationship between ideal family size (IFS) and proabortion attitudes (AA) which is independent of religious affiliation. The present investigation extends the investigation of this relationship in several ways. First, we find considerable variation in abortion attitudes among the Protestant denominations; this finding warrants a denomination-specific analysis. Second, controlling for religious affiliation within Protestantism, we find numerous examples of the spuriousness of the IFS-AA relationship. Third, the 1973 U.S. Supreme Court decision regarding abortion is found to have limited impact on the number of significant associations between IFS and AA. At the same time, for most denominations, IFS remains a significant predictor of AA. Fourth, we assess the importance of IFS relative to seven other independent variables in a multiple regression analysis and find that IFS is a significant predictor of an index of overall abortion attitudes. While Renzi’s hypothesis is therefore successfully extended in each stage of this analysis, numerous exceptions appear, particularly for denominations with strong proabortion sentiments. Finally, we note that IFS may have a limited history as a predictor variable if a national consensus emerges around the two child family.
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