Ethics Newsline®

“Slight but Steady Majority Favors Keeping Abortion Legal”

Oct 6th, 2008 • Posted in: Research Report

Pew poll tracks U.S. public’s views on abortion and related issues

From the Pew Research Center:

“Public opinion on the legality of abortion has remained relatively stable for well over a decade, with slight majorities of the public consistently saying they favor keeping abortion legal. Polling conducted between 1995 and 2008 reveals that support for keeping abortion legal in all or most cases has fluctuated between 49% and 61% over the 13-year time period. Fewer Americans have tended to express support for making abortion illegal in all or most cases, ranging from a low of 36% to a high of 48% over the same period of time.

“At the same time, large majorities have expressed support for the 1973 Roe v. Wade decision that established constitutional protections for women seeking an abortion. In October 1989, for instance, more than six-in-ten Americans (61%) said they would oppose seeing the U.S. Supreme Court completely overturn the Roe decision, while only one-in-three (33%) favored overturning Roe. Sixteen years later, in November 2005, two-thirds (65%) continued to express support for keeping Roe as the law of the land, while 26% supported overturning the decision.

“An August 2008 poll … confirms that American opinion on this issue remains very much in line with this historical pattern….

“Men and women are about equally likely to express support for abortion rights — 53% of men and 54% of women say it should be legal — but women are somewhat more likely than men to say abortion should be legal in all cases (20% of women vs. 14% of men). Majorities of most age groups say that abortion should be legal in all or most cases….

“Republicans are considerably more likely than Democrats and independents to oppose legalized abortion….

“And despite the Roman Catholic Church’s vocal opposition to abortion, opinion on the issue is also closely divided among Catholics, with about half (49%) saying abortion should be legal and a similar percentage (47%) saying it should not….

“While the public generally tends to support legalized abortion, it is also clear that most Americans harbor concerns about the morality of abortion and favor certain restrictions on its use. Pew Research Center polling from 2006, for instance, finds that most Americans (73%) believe that abortion is morally wrong in nearly all (24%) or some (49%) circumstances. Only one-in-four (24%) say abortion is not a moral issue. And a 2005 Pew Research Center poll finds that nearly six-in-ten Americans (59%) think it would be a good thing to reduce the number of abortions performed in the United States, compared with only 33% who do not feel this way.

“Perhaps reflecting these concerns, attitudes about abortion are highly dependent on the pregnant woman’s circumstances. For example, a 2005 Pew Research Center analysis shows that the public supports abortion when the physical or psychological health of the mother may be in danger, or when the pregnancy results from rape or incest. But most Americans disapprove of abortion when the circumstances relate to economics, life choices or a personal preference not to have a child.

“Other Pew Research Center polling finds that majorities of the public also consistently express support for requiring that women under age 18 get the consent of at least one parent before having an abortion; 73% expressed this view in 2005, as did 69% in 1999 and 73% in 1992….”