New Poll Finds Churches are Speaking Out Against Abortion

Last week, the Pew Research Center released the result of a survey on the political messages that churchgoers hear from clergy. Pew surveyed more than 3,500 people in April 2026. They asked about a range of different political issues that might be addressed in church, including social issues, the environment, and foreign policy. Pew also broke down the results by denomination.

The results should interest pro-lifers. Of all the denominations, Catholics were the most likely to report hearing a clergy member discuss abortion. Specifically, among Catholics who attend Mass at least monthly, 49 percent reported hearing a clergy member discuss abortion within the past few months. Similarly, 43 percent of white evangelical Protestants who report monthly church attendance said they heard a clergy member discuss abortion within the past few months.

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The results of the survey indicate that white non-evangelical Protestants and black Protestants were less likely to hear clergy members discuss abortion when attending a church service. Only 18 percent of white non-evangelical Protestants and 20 percent of black Protestants reported hearing a clergy member discuss abortion during the past few months.

What was interesting about the results of this survey is that a vast majority of the messages that churchgoers received about abortion supported the pro-life position. Of Catholics who reported hearing about abortion at Mass, over 86 percent said it was an exclusively pro-life message. Similarly, over 90 percent of Evangelical Protestants who heard a clergy member address abortion reported that the message was exclusively against abortion.

This is unsurprising because the Catholic Church and nearly all Evangelical churches oppose abortion. What was surprising is that a majority of the messages that other denominations heard about abortion were also pro-life. The results indicate over 78 percent of white non-evangelicals and 53 percent of black Protestants who heard about abortion in church said the messages were exclusively pro-life. This is somewhat surprising, since many of the respondents in these categories likely belong to Christian denominations that do not explicitly oppose abortion.

Some pro-life activists have expressed frustration for the unwillingness of clergy to discuss abortion. However, the results of this survey indicate a substantial number of churchgoers report that their clergy discuss abortion. Furthermore, a vast majority of these messages support the pro-life position. Surveys indicate that younger Catholic priests tend to be more conservative. This trend might be true of clergy from other denominations.

Overall, pro-lifers of all religious denominations should welcome the results of this Pew poll, which show that many clergy take a public stance against abortion.

LifeNews.com Note: Dr. Michael New is a professor at Ave Maria University. He is a former political science professor at the University of Michigan–Dearborn and holds a Ph.D. from Stanford University. He is a fellow at Witherspoon Institute in Princeton, New Jersey.