It does appear that most pro-life advocates are religious, some citing that “god got me involved.” The Catholic Church seems to be the most well known for being anti-abortion. They say that deliberately causing an abortion is a grave moral wrong.
Pope John Paul II described it as murder.
There are, however, some pro-life Catholics who disagree with the Vatican line on abortion. Their arguments include that although the church teaching has stated that a foetus becomes a person as soon as the egg is fertilised, theologians said this doesn’t happen until between 40 and 80 days after conception.
Islam regards abortion as wrong and forbidden, but many accept that it may be permitted in certain cases, for example, the pregnancy putting the mother’s life at risk. It is much the same for Sikhism, they say it interferes in the creative work of God.
A number of the complaints received from abortion clinics do include acts that are religious. They report chanting, praying and holy water being put at the clinic doors. These specific examples have been reported at the BPAS Bournemouth clinic also.
The most documented (due to their prayer vigils held outside of an Ealing abortion clinic that were later banned) pro-life organisation is based on their religious beliefs. the Good Counsel Network, a Catholic organisation, say they offer their time and work to Jesus through Mary. They also strongly deny that what they do is harassment.
There are, however, people who are not religious that are pro-life. Abort67 is a public education project that seeks to change how we view abortion; they operate as a human rights organisation with no specific religious motivation. There are also pro-life people who have said they face difficulty working with particular groups because they are not religious. Sometimes the first-hand experience of abortion has driven people to become pro-life.
There are, clearly, numerous and many reasons why people choose to be pro-life. Although I have not included all reading and research in this post (to avoid it being too long of a read) it does seem, for the majority of pro-life advocates, that they are motivated by their religious beliefs.
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