Fox News Poll Makes It Clear Again That Americans Oppose Most Abortions 
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by Steven Ertelt
LifeNews.com Editor
November 5, 2007
Washington, DC (LifeNews.com) — A new poll conducted for the Fox News Channel reveals that a majority of Americans oppose the overwhelming majority of abortions that take place in the United States.
The Opinion Dynamics polling firm found that most people agree that abortion should be allowed in the very rare “hard cases” but a majority oppose the use of abortion for social reasons.
According to the survey, some 73 percent of Americans support legalized abortion in rare cases when the pregnancy directly puts the mother’s life at risk. Just 15 percent opposed abortions in that circumstances and another 11 percent said it “depends or were unsure.”
If the pregnancy is the result of sexual abuse such as rape or incest, 70 percent of Americans say abortions should be allowed. Another 21 percent opposed abortions in those cases and 8 percent were uncertain where they stood.
In cases where the pregnancy puts the mother’s health at risk, another rare circumstance, the percentage of Americans supporting abortion drops to 56 percent. About 28 percent support abortions in those cases, according to the Opinion Dynamics poll and 15 percent are unsure.
The survey found that 53 percent of Americans say they support legal abortions during the rare times when the unborn child has a fatal birth defect. Another 30 percent of the public opposes abortions on these disabled unborn children and 16 percent are unsure where they stand.
Despite the support for abortions in very infrequent circumstances, Americans oppose abortions in the overwhelming number of abortions that involve generic social circumstances. When the pregnancy is unwanted because of financial concerns, a readiness to be a mother or for other reasons, the poll found 11 percent more Americans oppose abortion than favor it.
In these social cases, Fox News’ poll found 50 percent of Americans oppose legal abortions while just 39 percent supported abortions. A third group of 10 percent of the public is unsure where they stand.
Opinion Dynamics conducted the poll for Fox News and used telephone interviews with 900 registered American voters. The poll ran from October 24-24 and had a three percent margin of error.
