On Monday evening, a draft opinion was leaked suggesting that the U.S. Supreme Court is poised to overturn the landmark 1973 Roe v. Wade case that legalized abortion nationwide.
Landon Schnabel, assistant professor of sociology at Cornell University, is writing a book titled 鈥淚s Faith Feminine? What Americans Really Think about Gender and Religion,鈥 which will consider how religion suppresses gender differences in politics, including on the issue of abortion.
Schnabel says: 鈥淭he religious right supported Trump and ultimately got what they wanted out of him in his three Supreme Court appointments鈥擜my Coney Barrett, Brett Kavanaugh and Neil Gorsuch鈥攁nd their efforts to overturn the right to abortion.
鈥淎lthough the draft opinion conspicuously leaves out explicit mentions of terms like 鈥榬eligion鈥 and 鈥楪od,鈥 Christian religion and Catholic theology is the theme tucked away between the lines (six of the nine Supreme Court justices are Catholic and another, Gorsuch, was raised Catholic before becoming a Protestant).
鈥淭he very idea that life starts at conception鈥攚hich runs throughout the document鈥攊s rooted in Christian beliefs about an immortal soul that suggest life starts even before conception. The many appeals to 鈥榯radition鈥 in the draft are simply pointing back to old policies rooted in religious beliefs, and the draft even draws directly on a biblical idea but attributes them to tradition such as when it appeals to a 鈥13th-century treatise鈥 written by a Catholic cleric which, (the draft opinion fails to mention) is really just a restating of Exodus 21:22-24.
鈥淒emonstrating the centrality of particular religious beliefs to the arguments against abortion rights, Jews who believe a fetus is part of a woman's body until it attains the status of 鈥榥efesh鈥 (or soul) when it takes its first breath are generally supportive of abortion鈥攊n fact, Jews are more supportive of abortion than are the religiously unaffiliated. Buddhists, whose beliefs about ideas like an 鈥榠mmortal soul鈥 greatly differ from most Christians, also have similarly high levels of support for abortion. Even conservative Christian religious groups, such as Seventh-day Adventists, who do not believe in an immortal soul, have been more accepting of abortion and their hospitals have provided them when hospitals run by other groups would not.鈥
For interviews contact: Rachel Rhodes, cell: 585-732-1877, rer252@cornell.edu.
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