There is No One 'Religious View' on Abortion

The Catholic Church's official line on abortion, and even on any artificial birth control, is well known: Don't do it. Surveys of how American Catholics live their lives, though, tell a different story. The vast majority of Catholic women have used contraceptives, despite the church's ban. Fifty-six percent of U.S. Catholics believe abortion should be legal in all or most circumstances, whether or not they believe they would ever seek one. One in four Americans who have had abortions are Catholic, according to the Guttmacher Institute, which advocates for reproductive health.