The vast majority of Catholic women have used contraceptives, despite the church's ban. Fifty-six percent of U.S. Catholics believe abortion should be legal in all or most circumstances, whether or not they believe they would ever seek one. One in four Americans who have had abortions are Catholic, according to the Guttmacher Institute, which advocates for reproductive health. It's a clear reminder of the complex relationship between any religious tradition's teachings and how people actually live out their beliefs. With the U.S. Supreme Court poised to overturn Roe v. Wade, the 1973 ruling that protects abortion rights nationwide, religious attitudes toward a woman's right to end a pregnancy are in the spotlight. But even within one faith, there is no one religious position toward reproductive rights ' let alone among different faiths. When it comes to official stances on abortion, religions' positions are tied to different approaches to some key theological concepts. For instance,...
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