The abortion sequence

I recently watched THERE'S ALWAYS VANILLA. Ray Laine's acting certainly was the high point for me. I thought GAR's depiction of the female lead's (The character's name escapes me) abortion was rather chilling in a way. And this was a couple of years before Roe V. Wade. Also I have read that GAR is a devout Catholic. I wonder how much of that had an influence on his depiction of that part of the movie. Just curious.