The following table compares states' religiosity against two measures of its progress (or lack thereof) on the right to life: its legal ranking, via Americans United for Life, and its abortion rate, via the Guttmacher Institute. (We previously explored the correlation between pro-life laws and low abortion rates.)
State
|
% Very Religious
|
AUL Rank (#1 being most
pro-life)
|
Abortion Rate (per 1,000 women
of reproductive age; national rate is 14.6)
|
Mississippi
|
59
|
7
|
3.7
|
Alabama
|
56
|
23
|
8.3
|
Utah
|
54
|
25
|
4.6
|
South Dakota
|
53
|
6
|
3.5
|
South Carolina
|
52
|
20
|
6.4
|
Arkansas
|
52
|
4
|
8.0
|
Louisiana
|
50
|
3
|
10.8
|
Tennessee
|
50
|
15
|
10.7
|
Oklahoma
|
49
|
1
|
7.0
|
North Carolina
|
47
|
22
|
15.1
|
Georgia
|
47
|
8
|
15.7
|
Kentucky
|
47
|
19
|
4.1
|
Texas
|
45
|
17
|
9.8
|
Missouri
|
45
|
11
|
4.4
|
North Dakota
|
44
|
13
|
8.7
|
West Virginia
|
44
|
32
|
6.0
|
Nebraska
|
43
|
16
|
6.3
|
Kansas
|
43
|
2
|
12.9
|
Virginia
|
42
|
18
|
12.5
|
Idaho
|
42
|
21
|
4.2
|
New Mexico
|
41
|
39
|
11.7
|
Indiana
|
41
|
12
|
6.3
|
Iowa
|
40
|
35
|
7.5
|
Wyoming
|
39
|
37
|
1.1
|
Pennsylvania
|
38
|
10
|
13.3
|
Ohio
|
38
|
14
|
10.3
|
Wisconsin
|
38
|
24
|
5.6
|
Minnesota
|
38
|
28
|
9.3
|
Michigan
|
37
|
9
|
15.4
|
Illinois
|
37
|
30
|
16.3
|
Delaware
|
37
|
31
|
16.7
|
Florida
|
37
|
26
|
20.6
|
Arizona
|
36
|
5
|
9.8
|
Maryland
|
36
|
38
|
23.4
|
New Jersey
|
34
|
47
|
25.8
|
Montana
|
34
|
40
|
9.1
|
Colorado
|
32
|
29
|
12.1
|
California
|
31
|
49
|
19.5
|
New York
|
31
|
44
|
29.6
|
New Hampshire
|
29
|
33
|
10.4
|
Washington
|
29
|
50
|
13.7
|
Hawaii
|
28
|
41
|
14.0
|
Connecticut
|
28
|
43
|
19.2
|
Oregon
|
27
|
46
|
12.0
|
Alaska
|
27
|
34
|
10.0
|
Nevada
|
27
|
45
|
19.4
|
Rhode Island
|
27
|
27
|
17.0
|
Massachusetts
|
25
|
42
|
15.3
|
Maine
|
23
|
36
|
9.5
|
Vermont
|
21
|
48
|
12.1
|
Clearly, a correlation exists: more religious states tend to enjoy better pro-life laws and lower abortion rates.* The correlation is not perfect; to take one example, New Mexico and Indiana are very similar in terms of religiosity (41% "very religious" and 30% "nonreligious"), but New Mexico ranks far lower on AUL's list and its abortion rate is nearly double that of Indiana.
Nevertheless, there is cause for concern. A faith-based pro-life movement is bound to be ineffective in the states where preborn babies most urgently need our help: New York (only 31% "very religious" and a sky-high 29.6 abortion rate); New Jersey (34%, 25.8); Maryland (36%, 23.4); Florida (37%, 20.6); California (31%, 19.5); Nevada (27%, 19.4); and Connecticut (28%, 19.2).
Let us leave no unborn child behind. If you support a secular approach that meets people where they are, please donate to Secular Pro-Life.
*For the math nerds, I ran the data through an online coefficient calculator and found a correlation between % very religious and AUL Life List rank of -0.7185; between % very religious and abortion rate of -0.5051; and between AUL Life List rank and abortion rate of 0.4602.
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