New national polling data released by Gallup reveals that 53% of Americans oppose abortion. Half of Americans would even go so far as to say that it should be illegal to have an abortion in the United States.
The latest polling data is from Gallup’s May 1-10 annual Values and Beliefs poll. Although the margins are still narrowly in favor of pro life positions, the percentage of people with pro life attitudes has steadily increased since the 1990’s when Gallup first asked the question. At that time, those in favor of abortion outnumbered those in favor of life 51%-40%. The majority of Americans are now saying that abortion should only be legal under certain circumstances, with the majority agreeing that there should be more restrictions on abortions than are currently in place. Live Action News noted that while “the number of Americans identifying as pro-life has grown over the past year, while the number of Americans identifying as pro-choice has dipped.”
“This time last year, 50 percent of Americans called themselves pro-choice; 44 percent of Americans felt they were pro-life —an increase of 2 percent,” Live Action News’ Cassy Fiano points out.
The majority of Americans also agreed that abortion is morally wrong. 48% said that it is morally wrong, with 43% saying it is morally acceptable. Gallup points out an important observation noting that although many Americans have shifted to more liberal attitudes on what is considered morally acceptable, this moral issue has not shifted in the liberal direction.
The Gallup polling appears to show that a majority of Americans support common-sense abortion restrictions being passed at the state and local levels.
A Marist/Knights of Columbus poll conducted in January of this year showed similar results. The data from this poll shows Americans are split almost evenly between those who call themselves “pro-life” or “pro-choice,” with 44 percent identifying as the pro life and 51 percent as pro choice.
However, an interesting finding of the Marist/Knights of Columbus poll found similar thought patterns about passing abortion restrictions. Of those who considered themselves to be in favor of abortions, 60% still said that there should be more restrictions on abortion in the United States. The combined totals of those surveyed added up to 76% of Americans who thought there should be some form of abortion restrictions. Other interesting data points from the Marist/Knights of Columbus poll, as noted by CBN include:
- 56 percent of Americans believe abortion is morally wrong, while 41 percent think it’s morally acceptable.
- 52 percent say abortion does more harm than good, while 29 percent believe it improves a woman’s life.
- 63 percent of Americans support a ban on abortion after 20 weeks of pregnancy, while 33 percent oppose such a ban.
- 60 percent oppose using tax dollars for abortion, while 36 percent favor it.
