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Gender, Religion, and Pro-Life Activism

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  06 January 2020

Eric Swank Open the ORCID record for Eric Swank [Opens in a new window]
Eric Swank*
Affiliation:
Arizona State University, Social & Cultural Analysis, New College of Interdisciplinary Studies
*
Address correspondence and reprint requests to: Eric Swank, Arizona State University, Social & Cultural Analysis, New College of Interdisciplinary Studies, 4701 W Thunderbird Rd, Glendale, AZ85306. E-mail: eric.swank@asu.edu
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Abstract

Political mobilizations for and against legal abortions are cyclical entities. Studies on people who joined pro-life movements in the peak of abortion protests (1980s) are relatively common but recent critical studies of right-to-life activists are almost non-existent. To address this lack of recent research, this work combines “political resource” theories and feminist scholarship to explain why certain people are involved in anti-abortion social movements. After analyzing data from the 2010–12 version of the American National Election Surveys (n = 3,860), this study concludes that pro-life activism was primarily driven by absolutist stances on abortion, the minimization of perceived sexism in society, being exposed to religious conversations about politics, and membership in explicitly political groups. The study also found that people's gender, social class, and educational levels failed to predict their pro-life political behaviors.

Type
Article
Information
Politics and Religion , Volume 13 , Issue 2 , June 2020 , pp. 361 - 384
Copyright
Copyright © Religion and Politics Section of the American Political Science Association 2020

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