(11/12/07) -

Majority of Americans Support Legal Abortions

(Angus Reid Global Monitor) – Most people in the United States believe pregnancy termination should be allowed, according to a poll by TNS released by the Washington Post and ABC News. 55 per cent of respondents think abortion should be legal in all or most cases, while 43 per cent disagree.

(Angus Reid Global Monitor) – Most people in the United States believe pregnancy termination should be allowed, according to a poll by TNS released by the Washington Post and ABC News. 55 per cent of respondents think abortion should be legal in all or most cases, while 43 per cent disagree.

A Supreme Court ruling in 1973 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."

In April, a Supreme Court ruling effectively banned partial birth abortion—a procedure performed in the late-term of pregnancy when the fetus can survive outside the womb—without making an exception for the health of the mother.

On Nov. 5, Karen Cross, political director for National Right to Life—an anti-abortion movement—said the group must be ready to defend its ideas during the 2008 U.S. presidential race, declaring, "Without a pro-life president in the White House after the 2008 elections, Roe v. Wade could be in place a very long time."

Polling Data

Do you think abortion should be legal in all cases, legal in most cases, illegal in most cases or illegal in all cases?

Source: TNS / Washington Post / ABC News
Methodology: Telephone interviews with 1,131 American adults, conducted from Oct. 29 to Nov. 1, 2007. Margin of error is 3 per cent.