NASHVILLE (BP) — According to the latest figures compiled by Gallup, the rate at which an individual attends church still indicates his or her stance on abortion.
Fifteen percent of those who attend church weekly felt abortion should be legal under any circumstances. That figure grew to 20% for those who attend nearly weekly or monthly before doubling to 40% among those who seldom or never attend religious services.
When asked if abortion should be legal under some circumstances, however, opposite sides of the spectrum met as 52% of weekly attenders and those who seldom or never attend responded in the affirmative. Nearly two-thirds (65%) of nearly weekly/monthly attenders agreed.
Thirty-one% of weekly attenders said abortion should be illegal in all cases, far outpacing nearly weekly/monthly (13%) and seldom/never attenders (7%).
Viewpoints on the morality of abortion were more clear-cut, led by 71% of weekly attenders calling it morally wrong. Only a quarter of those who seldom attend felt the same, with 52% of monthly attenders doing so.
The study conducted on May 1-18 is the latest on the topic conducted by Gallup.
It comes amid a rise in abortions in the U.S. over the last year. That is spurred by those prescribed via telehealth, when doctors provide abortifacients by video or phone. States with shield laws give legal cover to providers who send pills such as mifepristone to clients in states with restrictive abortion laws. A recent watchdog report spoke to the “serious adverse reactions” to mifepristone that are being underreported.
Only five% of abortions in the spring of 2022 came through telehealth. By the end of last year, that figure had jumped to 25%.
U.S. abortions totaled 1.14 million in 2024, the highest since 2008’s 1.2 million. The peak number came in 1990, when 1.6 million abortions were recorded.
A majority of all Americans (55%) feel abortion should be legal only under certain circumstances, while 30% say it should be legal under all circumstances. That represents a shift from last year, when 35% responded that it should be legal in all cases and 50% said only in certain circumstances.
Those figures have remained fairly consistent since 1975, the first year Gallup provided such records and two years after the Roe v. Wade decision. In the 1975 study, 54% of Americans felt abortion should be legal in some cases, with 21% calling for it to be legal in all situations.
The biggest swing between 1975 and 2025 comes with those saying abortion should be illegal in all cases, as 22% felt so 50 years ago while only 13% said so in the most recent study. However, it is also the category of biggest fluctuations, as 21% felt that way as recently as 2019 and 12% did so as far back as 1990.
(EDITOR’S NOTE — Scott Barkley is chief national correspondent for Baptist Press.)
