Abstract
This article compares attitudes towards abortion and euthanasia in two countries with different Christian traditions. Poland is a former communist country with a strong Catholic tradition. Norway is a highly secularized Scandinavian country with a dominating Lutheran Church. The two countries have different legal frameworks regarding abortion and euthanasia. We aim here to investigate the connection between religion and attitudes towards abortion and euthanasia. Our methodological approach is “most different systems design”. If one finds similar patterns in countries with different religious and political cultures, there is reason to believe that the findings will also apply to other countries. Though the two countries differ with respect to political and religious culture, we find interesting similarities between them. In both countries, religiosity has a negative impact on attitudes towards abortion and euthanasia; this means that the most religious people also have the most negative attitudes regarding these issues. Views regarding the role religion should perform in society are also strong predictors of attitudes. In both countries, those who think that church and religion should actively influence society have negative attitudes towards abortion and euthanasia while those who think church and religion should adapt to trends in society support both abortion and euthanasia as a right.
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02 February 2019
Owing to an oversight, the affiliations of the second and the fourth authors of this book were published with errors. The correct presentation is as below.
Notes
- 1.
Original title: Drugi Powszechny Spis Ludnośći z dnia 9 grudnia 1931 r. Główny Urzad Statystyczny Rzeczypospolitej Polskiej, Statystyka Poslki, Seria C, Zeszyt 94a. The original document from 1931 is available at: http://statlibr.stat.gov.pl/exlibris/aleph/a22_1/apache_media/VUNVGMLANSCQQFGYHCN3VDLK12A9U5.pdf
- 2.
This restrictive law was briefly liberalized by an amendment in 1996 which allowed abortion on social grounds; however, this amendment was found unconstitutional in 1997 by the Constitutional Tribunal.
- 3.
- 4.
“Black Protest” is the name of the massive protests across Poland in 2016 against a proposal to ban abortions in almost all circumstances. Many women dressed in black to mourn the death of women’s rights.
- 5.
- 6.
In Poland the research was made by the Public Opinion Research Center, for more information see: http://www.federa.org.pl/dokumenty_pdf/aborcja/WPO_Abortion_Jun08_packet.pdf
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Botvar, P.K., Sarti, C., Zielińska, K., Zwierżdżyński, M.K. (2019). Religion and Attitudes Towards Abortion and Euthanasia Among Young People in Poland and Norway. In: Ziebertz, HG., Zaccaria, F. (eds) Euthanasia, Abortion, Death Penalty and Religion – The Right to Life and its Limitations. Religion and Human Rights, vol 4. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-98773-6_10
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