Jinger Duggar Stands Firm in Her Anti-Abortion Beliefs Despite Distancing Herself From IBLP

After Jinger Duggar publicly shared that she left the Institute in Basic Life Principles (IBLP), the basis for the fundamental Christian religion she followed her whole life with her family, some assumed it meant Jinger's values had changed. Or, that they had shifted in some major way. Instead, Jinger remains extremely close to her 19 Kids and Counting and Counting On family. And after she made comments about being anti-abortion, it was made clear that Jinger's beliefs do indeed still line up with that other family.

In September 2024, Jinger appeared on the Lila Rose Podcast. She opened up about her belief system when it comes to abortion and, she revealed, she still upholds the same strong core values that she did while growing up with her family in Arkansas. But what did she say, exactly? It's not something that those who follow the Duggars haven't heard before.

The Duggar family is anti-abortion, anti-left, and Republican to the core. Most of the family members share as much on and off social media, including Anna Duggar's tweet about former President Donald Trump's assassination attempt in July 2024. So for Jinger to share her own beliefs about abortion and for those beliefs to be in line with her family's, it's not a huge shock.

What is a bit surprising, however, is the openness with which she speaks about it. Jinger was the first Duggar daughter to move far from her parents and marry someone outside of the IBLP religion. She even says in her memoir Becoming Free Indeed: My Story of Disentangling Faith from Fear that her now-husband Jeremy Vuolo helped her consider other ways of approaching Christianity. But as open-minded and "worldly" as she might seem now, Jinger still hangs on to certain strident beliefs.

"I think just realizing what God says about life from conception," Jinger said on the podcast. "As a Christian, I have no other way that I could get around that. I know some Christians try to, but life matters to God, so it matters to me."

She added, "Even the tiniest baby matters, and that life should not be taken. They should be able to have a voice, even inside the womb."

In February 2023, Jinger's sister Jessa revealed on YouTube that a pregnancy she had around that time resulted in a miscarriage. She shared that she had to check in at a hospital to have a dilation and curettage procedure, also known as a D&C, performed to remove the fetus from her body. This was done out of safety for Jessa, as she had lost the baby in the womb.

While there are D&C procedures used for abortions, this was not an abortion. However, Jessa's procedure following her miscarriage was virtually unheard of for the family at that time. When Jessa shared the details on YouTube, it was during a rare moment of vulnerability from the otherwise almost stoic Duggar sister.