Unwed pregnant teens and 20-somethings who attend or have graduated from private religious schools are more likely to obtain abortions than their peers from public schools, according to research in the June [2009] issue of the Journal of Health and Social Behavior."This research suggests that young, unmarried women are confronted with a number of social, financial and health-related factors that can make it difficult for them to act according to religious values when deciding whether to keep or abort a pregnancy," said the study's author, sociologist Amy Adamczyk of John Jay College of Criminal Justice and the Graduate Center, City University of New York....
Results revealed no significant link between a young woman's reported decision to have an abortion and her personal religiosity, as defined by her religious involvement, frequency of prayer and perception of religion's importance.
--from LiveScience (6.1.09) as reported by msnbc.com (6.5.09)
It is not just the sad irony that speaks to us from reports like this one. These studies and reports should also remind us of the complex social, family, religious and psychological context that weighs so heavily on young women caught in the misfortune of these difficult circumstances. And if we would learn anything from this research and our all-too-common experience, we would be much more likely to bring the love, compassion, forgiveness and support that the highest values of faith proclaim, and much less the self-righteous judgment and anger, the social and political narrow mindedness, that too many people justify through incomplete, often misapplied understandings of their faith.
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