ut abortion. The survey polled over 2,600 white Catholic parishioners and found that abortion stances "may represent a broader moral crusade against such thing as sexual permissiveness, 'inappropriate' female role behavior, and ineffective church teaching that contribute to or fail to stem the tide of cultural degradation" (Welch, Leege, and Cavendish 143). In general, abortion on demand is viewed as a symptom of the decay of traditional family values because it validates casual sex.
The study also confirmed previous research that found that a significant number of U.S. Catholics identify with the ideology of evangelical Protestant organizations. Since these organizations have been notoriously outspoken on political issues that relate to family values, some Catholics have assumed a similarly conservative political point of view, namely an opposition to abortion: "It must also be remembered that a higher proportion of evangelical laypersons oppose abortion than of Catholic laypersons" (Welch, Leege, and Cavendish 154).
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