The Impact of Religious Fragmentation and Party Control on Morality Policies: Examining Abortion and Same-Sex Marriage

Despite the burgeoning literature on morality policies, the conditions under which religious demands are converted into public policy remain largely unexplored. This study examines the adoption of legislation in the field of Sexual and Reproductive Health Rights, specifically focusing on abortion and same-sex marriage in the US states over the time period 1980-2014. In doing so, I adopt the conceptual framework of “manifest” morality policies that allows delineating a cultural opportunity structure, in which religion represents a cultural force that shapes both policy demand and party position on moral issues. While religious denominations seek institutional representation through political parties to translate its views into policy output, the way their cultural demands are championed by political elites may respond to the religious fragmentation of a state. Thus, religious fragmentation may contribute to the ideological divide between Democrats and Republicans by determining the marginal electoral gains from adopting strong opposing moral views and by increasing or decreasing the possibilities of members of the same denomination being represented in both parties. Overall, the results of the discrete-time Event History Analysis undertaken in this paper confirm these theoretical expectations. On the one hand, Christian fundamentalist groups in each state push legislation towards conservative values. On the other hand, the position on morality policy by the party in control of the government plays a greater role in determining policy output in those states that are more religiously fragmented. Hence, both religious beliefs and the religious composition of each state prove to be significant factors for the adoption of progressive or conservative legislation in the field of Sexual and Reproductive Health Rights.