Survey: Slim majority of Americans support abortion rights

Pew Research Center has a survey out showing the attitudes of various religious (and nonreligious) groups in the US towards abortion rights, and I’m almost surprised by how predictable the results are.

I think both religious and nonreligious people could have predicted that atheists and agnostics would be high on that list, albeit for different reasons – religious folks because they see both atheists and abortion as immoral, nonreligious folks because they don’t have old men in silly hats telling them that giving women autonomy over their bodies makes baby Jesus cry. That said, I’m a little peeved at those Unitarian Universalists for beating us out – dang hippies with their inclusive liberal beliefs.

The survey also shows how many members of conservative faiths break with their leaders’ anti-choice teachings. Sure, it’s hypocritical for almost half of Catholics to think abortion should be legal when their Church is one of the loudest opponents to a woman’s right to choose, but I’d rather have wishy-washy believers who support women’s reproductive rights than steadfast nonbelievers who fight against them.

(via retweet by @religionnews)