Who Gets to Choose? Abortion, Mormonism, and Moral Agency | Dialogue Unbound

What happens when the LDS Church supports abortion restrictions that go beyond the exceptions recognized in its own teachings? And what can Mormon history tell us about how Latter-day Saints have understood pregnancy, abortion, and moral agency?

In this episode of Dialogue Unbound, host Caroline Kline speaks with historian Amanda Hendrix-Komoto and public health scholar Susan Christiansen about the Church’s involvement in abortion-related ballot initiatives in Idaho and Nevada.

Amanda explores the surprisingly complex history of Mormon attitudes toward abortion, from nineteenth-century understandings of pregnancy and quickening to changing ideas about reproductive control. Susan examines the public health consequences of abortion restrictions, including maternal and infant mortality, access to reproductive healthcare, and the departure of obstetricians from Idaho.

Together, they consider the relationship between religious authority and individual conscience, the unequal consequences of abortion restrictions, and what it might mean to approach deeply contested questions with greater compassion.

The conversation asks a fundamental question: Who gets to make decisions about pregnancy, healthcare, and moral responsibility?

Amanda Hendrix-Komoto’s article, “The Other Crime: Abortion and Contraception in Nineteenth- and Twentieth-Century Utah,” is available at DialogueJournal.com.