Pew report: Majority of Methodists, Episcopalians and Presbyterians support legal abortion in US

Poll findings released by the Pew Research Center has indicated that a majority of Episcopalians, United Methodists and Presbyterians believe that abortion should be legal in all or most cases.

The report published by Pew earlier this week revealed that 58 percent of Methodists, 79 percent of Episcopalians and 65 percent of Presbyterians support legal abortion in all or most cases.

Atheists, agnostics and members of the Unitarian Universalist church, which professes no creed or specific belief in God, are among the strongest supporters of legal abortion in the U.S.

The findings indicated that 90 percent of Unitarian Universalists believe that abortion should be legal in all more most cases, followed by atheists and agnostics, both at 87 percent.

Other religious groups that are most favorable to legal abortion in all or most cases were American Jews at 83 percent, Buddhists at 82 percent and Hindus at 68 percent. Sixty-seven of respondents who do not identify with a particular religion believe that abortion should be legal in all or most cases.

Among Black Protestants, 55 percent believe that the procedure should be legal in all or most cases, and 53 percent of Catholics say the same.

The religious group that had the lowest support for legal abortion was the Jehovah's Witnesses at 18 percent.

When it comes to political party affiliation, 75 percent of Democrats believe that abortion should be legal in all most cases, while 60 percent of Independents say the same. In contrast, 65 percent of Republicans believe that it should be illegal in all or most cases.

Male and female respondents appear to be expressing similar views on abortion, with 59 percent of women saying it should be illegal in all or most cases, and 55 percent of men saying the same. Overall, 57 percent of all Americans are support legal abortions in all or most cases.

Pew noted that data for all U.S. adults were taken from a survey conducted from June 8–18, 2017, while figures from all religious groups were taken from the 2014 U.S. Religious Landscape Study, conducted between June 4 and Sept 30, 2014.

Different results were found in other studies, such as a Marist poll in January, which indicated that 76 percent of Americans were in favor of significant restrictions on abortion.

A strong majority supported a ban on abortion after 20 weeks of pregnancy, while more than three quarters support a limit the procedure to the first three months.

A Gallup poll conducted last year found that only 29 percent of Americans believe that abortion should be legal under any circumstance, while 54 percent said it should be illegal in all circumstances or legal in only a few.