The Civil Society Sphere: Religion and Reproductive Health

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We start with the civil society sphere. Within civil society, we engage with religion as a defining feature that has long been assumed to have a fractious relationship with women’s rights and gender equality. The effects of religion in the area of gender equality have been considered substantial in academic work as well as in popular and political discourse. A common understanding is that religion depresses women’s rights in general and reproductive and abortion rights in particular. The literature on reproductive rights, however, is disproportionately focused on Western cases, and is limited in its definition of religion as a variable. What happens, though, when we switch to a more inclusive framework? To what extent do a variety of religious variables correlate with policy on reproductive rights outside of the Western context? We examine the relevance of the religion-abortion link in a broad comparative framework looking at religious sect, religiosity, religious diversity, and the relationship between religion and the state. The comparative analyses suggest that the connection between religion and women’s reproductive rights is far more nuanced than previously thought.