(Angus Reid Global Scan) – Many adults in the United States think pregnancy termination should be available only under specific circumstances, according to a poll by Opinion Dynamics released by Fox News. 83 per cent of respondents believe abortion should be legal if the mother’s life is at risk, and 74 per cent consent to the procedure if the pregnancy was the result of rape or incest.
(Angus Reid Global Scan) – Many adults in the United States think pregnancy termination should be available only under specific circumstances, according to a poll by Opinion Dynamics released by Fox News. 83 per cent of respondents believe abortion should be legal if the mother’s life is at risk, and 74 per cent consent to the procedure if the pregnancy was the result of rape or incest.
In addition, 62 per cent of respondents think abortion should be legal it the pregnancy puts the mother’s mental health at risk, but only 43 per cent would allow the procedure to terminate any unwanted pregnancy.
The 1973 Roe v. Wade Supreme Court ruling gave American women the right to an abortion in the first trimester of pregnancy, and regulated the procedure during the second trimester “in ways that are reasonably related to maternal health.” In the third trimester, a state can choose to proscribe abortion, except when necessary “for the preservation of the life or health of the mother.”
U.S. president George W. Bush signed a federal restriction on partial birth late term abortions in November 2003, but the law was immediately challenged by U.S. District Court judge Richard Kopf, who issued a temporary restraining order. The law seeks to ban a type of procedure in which a fetus is partially delivered. 61 per cent of respondents believe partial birth abortions should be banned.
Polling Data
Please tell me if you think abortion should be legal or illegal in each of the following situations.
Legal | Illegal | |
If the pregnancy puts the mother’s life at risk | 83% | 12% |
If the pregnancy was the result of rape or incest | 74% | 21% |
If the pregnancy puts the mother’s mental health at risk | 62% | 30% |
If the pregnancy is unwanted | 43% | 49% |
Do you think partial birth abortions—an abortion procedure conducted late in pregnancy—should be banned or not?
Yes | 61% |
No | 28% |
Don’t know | 11% |
Source: Opinion Dynamics / Fox News
Methodology: Telephone interviews with 900 registered American voters, conducted on Feb. 28 and Mar. 1, 2006. Margin of error is 3 per cent.
