Abstract
Objective
No standard exists to measure religiosity in abortion studies. We test whether religiosity
is associated with support for abortion among Mexican Catholics and whether different
measures of degree of Catholicism alter the relationship.
Study design
We conducted a nationally representative cross-sectional study using survey data from
2669 self-identified Mexican Catholics (response rate 85%). Our three outcomes were
1) overall support for legal abortion and support for abortion under exceptions, grouped
as having 2) traditionally high agreement (rape, life) and 3) low agreement (on demand,
socioeconomic). We used logistic regression controlling for sociodemographic covariates
to test the association of four measures of Catholicism with our outcomes.
Results
The majority of Mexican Catholics support abortion in some circumstances. (90% at
least one high agreement exception and 40% at least one low agreement exception).
The only measure of degree of Catholicism significantly associated with all our outcomes
was belief that a person who helps someone who aborts can be a good Catholic. Those
who agreed (versus not) had higher odds of support for abortion for both high agreement
(aOR 3.6 [95% CI: 1.7–7.9]) and low agreement (aOR 1.9 [95% CI: 1.3–2.7]) exceptions.
Respondents who believe a woman who aborts does not need to confess (aOR 2.1 [95%
CI: 1.5–2.8]) or needs to confess to God (aOR 1.4 [95% CI: 1.04–1.8]) versus a priest
had higher odds of agreement with at least one low agreement exception.
Conclusion
Opinion toward abortion among Mexican Catholics is diverse. More nuanced measures
of Catholicism are valuable in assessing support for abortion, especially exceptions
with low support.
Implications
The main reasons women need abortion are precisely those with low support among Mexican
Catholics. Focusing on nuanced measures of Catholicism can help us identify areas
for shared values and frame messaging to meet the diversity of Catholic opinion. Catholicism
is not an unsurmountable barrier to liberalization of abortion law.
Keywords
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Article info
Publication history
Published online: June 27, 2018
Accepted:
June 20,
2018
Received in revised form:
June 16,
2018
Received:
April 5,
2018
Footnotes
☆Conflicts of interest: The authors cite no conflicts of interest.
Identification
Copyright
© 2018 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.
