Gallup: ‘pro-choice’ Americans edge out ‘pro-life’

by Kathleen Gilbert

PRINCETON, New Jersey, May 23, 2011 (LifeSiteNews.com) - For the first time since 2008, Americans identifying as “pro-choice” outnumber those calling themselves “pro-life,” at least according to the latest Gallup poll.

In a survey released Monday, Gallup found 49 percent of respondents said they were “pro-choice” on the abortion issue, and 45 percent considered themselves “pro-life.”

The highest peak for the “pro-choice” answer, 56 percent, occurred when the pollster first asked the question in the mid-1990s, and declined until reaching a low of 42 percent in 2009. The “pro-life” answer reached a peak in the same year and captured the majority for the first time at 51 percent.

However, a solid majority, 61 percent, still say that abortion should be illegal in most or all circumstances. Only 37 percent want abortion legal in most or all cases. The finding is largely consistent with Americans’ sentiments on the topic since the late 1990s, as polled by Gallup.

More Americans consider abortion to be morally wrong than morally acceptable, including the majority of those between the ages of 18 to 34, who called it wrong 53 to 44 percent.

“Americans’ views on abortion held fairly steady over the past year, with the public still sharply divided over the ‘pro-life’ and ‘pro-choice’ labels,” concluded Gallup’s Lydia Saad. “Nevertheless, majorities of Americans indicate some reluctance about abortion on both moral and legal grounds. This is seen most strongly among Republicans and older Americans.”