May 27, 2007

Abstract: (Angus Reid Global Monitor) - Adults in the United States are split over their country's pregnancy termination guidelines, according to a poll by the New York Times and CBS News. 39 per cent of respondents believe abortion should be generally available to those who want it, up five points since March.

(Angus Reid Global Monitor) - Adults in the United States are split over their country's pregnancy termination guidelines, according to a poll by the New York Times and CBS News. 39 per cent of respondents believe abortion should be generally available to those who want it, up five points since March.

Conversely, 37 per cent of respondents believe abortion should be available but under stricter limits than it is now, while 21 per cent think the procedure should not be permitted.

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."

Last month, 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 May 24, the Louisiana House of Representatives voted unanimously to outlaw partial birth abortion in the state. The legislation contemplates a $10,000 U.S. fine and/or a sentence of one year in prison for a person convicted of performing a partial birth abortion.

Polling Data

Which of these comes closest to your view? Abortion should be generally available to those who want it; Abortion should be available but under stricter limits than it is now; or Abortion should not be permitted?

	May 2007	Mar. 2007	Jan. 2006
Generally available	39%	34%	38%
Stricter limits	37%	41%	39%
Not be permitted	21%	23%	21%
Not sure	2%	2%	3%

Source: CBS News / New York Times
Methodology: Telephone interviews with 1,125 American adults, conducted from May 18 to May 23, 2007. Margin of error is 3 per cent.