Citations for NRLC Convention Presentation
On Saturday, June 24 — the first anniversary of the life-saving Dobbs decision — Secular Pro-Life founder and president Kelsey Hazzard will give a presentation at the National Right to Life presentation in Pittsburgh. Here are her sources.
Bernard Nathanson quote: “Confessions of an Ex-Abortionist,” excerpt available here.
Changing religious demographics: Jeffrey M. Jones, U.S. Church Membership Falls Below Majority for the First Time, Gallup 2021. See also this Pew Research Center projection of Christian identification in the United States.
Debunking abortion supporters’ Establishment Clause argument: “Religious Liberty Justifications for Violence: A Legal Analysis,” Kelsey Hazzard, Rehumanize Conference, October 15, 2022, and related citations.
Religiously unaffiliated Americans are overrepresented among abortion customers. Per the Pew Research Center, in 2014, 22.8% of Americans were religiously unaffiliated — but they made up 38% of mothers obtaining abortions, according to the pro-abortion Guttmacher Institute.
Number of non-religious Americans opposed to abortion: The Pew Research Center reports, as of March 2023, that 15% of religiously unaffiliated Americans say abortion should be illegal in all or most cases. It also states, as of 2021, that 29% of Americans are religiously unaffiliated. The U.S. Census reports a national adult population of 258.3 million. Putting that data together, we estimate that there are 11.2 million secular pro-life American adults.
Religious demographics of the pro-life movement: Pew Research Center, “Religious tradition by views about abortion.” And see related analysis by Secular Pro-Life.
Religiously unaffiliated Americans are 40% less likely to say abortion should be illegal in all or most cases, compared to the general U.S. population: See this table from the Pew Research Center (15% versus 37%), survey of U.S adults taken March 7-13, 2023.
Prenatal development resources: The Endowment for Human Development, embryology quote collection, embryonic heartbeat research, and our response to the unscientific Guardian propaganda article. (Bonus: Women who are “pro-choice” but have seen the reality of prenatal development due to miscarriage were also unhappy with the Guardian.)
Pro-life feminism: Feminists for Life of America, Feminists Choosing Life of New York, and coalition amicus brief
Abortion late in pregnancy: Proof that medically unnecessary abortions are performed after 21 weeks, and why that undercuts the bodily autonomy argument for abortion.
Secular-friendly post-abortion resources: Abortion Changes You and Support After Abortion
