Gallup Poll: Most Americans Oppose Most Abortions
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by Steven Ertelt
LifeNews.com Editor
April 4, 2005
Washington, DC (LifeNews.com) — A new poll conducted by the Gallup Organization for CNN and USA Today finds that most Americans oppose most abortions. According to the poll, 59 percent of the American public say they oppose all or most abortions.
The Gallup survey found 20% of those polled believe abortion should be illegal in all circumstances. Another 39 percent believe abortion should only be legal in a few circumstances.
While those situations are not spelled out, most polls show Americans favor abortions in the very limited cases of preventing the death of the mother or when the mother has been raped or is a victim of incest. Such cases of abortion constitute less than 5 percent of all abortions.
As a result, 59% of Americans oppose 95 percent or more of the 1.25 million abortions that take place annually in the United States.
Fewer Americans take a view favoring all or most abortions.
The Gallup poll found that just 14 percent of those polled favor legal abortion under most circumstances and only 23 percent favor legal abortions for any reason.
In total, just 37 percent of Americans back legal abortion under most or all circumstances.
"This poll is another indication that our nation is moving toward a consensus in wanting to restore protection for unborn children," Minnesota Citizens Concerned for Life director Scott Fischbach told LifeNews.com. "
" As time goes on more and more Americans are looking at the issue of abortion and opening their hearts to a culture of life," he added.
The results are consistent with other recent polls on the issue of abortion.
A Harris Interactive poll conducted between February 8 and 13 asked respondents their opinion on the Roe v. Wade Supreme Court case that legalized unlimited abortion. The poll showed support for the Roe v. Wade decision at its lowest point in 20 years.
A Wirthlin Worldwide poll commissioned just after the presidential elections, found 55 percent said they took a pro-life position and only 40 percent took one of three positions in favor of legal abortions.
The results of the new survey were obtained in a Gallup telephone poll of 909 American adults from March 18 to 20, 2005. Margin of error is 4 percent.
