ABSTRACT
This chapter aims to determine the reasons for public opinion concerning abortion policy, with special attention given to the role of religion in this process. Public interest in abortion was no doubt heightened by the attention given the topic in the 1984 presidential election. The National Opinion Research Center has been asking national samples of adults about abortion since 1972. Among the basic social status characteristics studied by social scientists, formal education has been shown to be the best predictor of abortion attitudes. More important in predicting people's attitudes toward abortion than social status characteristics were attitudes on other social issues related to private life. Regarding religion, people claiming no religious affiliation and Jews showed more approval of legal abortion than did Protestants and Catholics, between whom the differences were small. Catholics have been dominant among Christian writers on abortion.
