Hispanics, Black Americans Differ on Legality of Abortion Despite Moral Objections

A poll titled The African American & Hispanic Reproductive Issues Survey conducted by the Public Religion Research Institute (PRRI) revealed that although many black Americans find abortion morally wrong, they are not opposed to its legal status.

The poll found that Hispanic Americans' views on the morality and legal status of abortion, however, are much more closely linked.

"Like most Americans, black Americans and Hispanic Americans bring a complex set of identities to the issue of abortion," said Dr. Robert P. Jones, CEO of the Public Religion Research Institute. "For example, majorities of both black Americans and Hispanic Americans simultaneously identify as both 'pro-choice' and 'pro-life.'"

The present survey, which is an update on another PRRI abortion survey conducted in 2011, showed that a little bit more than half, or 52 percent of Black Americans who find abortion to be morally wrong think that it should be legal in all or almost all cases, compared to only 25 percent of Hispanics who believe the same. The 2011 survey had identified that 67 percent of black Americans and 46 percent of Hispanics in total think that abortion should be legal.

Hispanic and African-Americans liked using both of the phrases "pro-life" and "pro-choice" to describe themselves. Seventy-one percent of black Americans and 77 percent of Hispanics said that "pro-life" describes them very well, but at the same time 75 percent of black Americans and 72 percent of Hispanics said the same of the phrase "pro-choice."

The survey also took a deeper look into how views on abortion are formed in the black and Hispanic communities, with religion emerging as a major factor.

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