The Religious Consultation
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Newsday (US), August 5, 2005 Abortion Still Supported Despite decades of debate on
subject, Pew poll shows majority of Americans
endorse it, with restrictions With a battle looming over John G. Roberts' nomination to the Supreme Court, a new poll shows that a majority of Americans - 65 percent - continue to support the 1973 Roe v. Wade decision legalizing abortion, but almost three-quarters favor restrictions such as requiring parental consent for minors. The poll, conducted by the Pew Research Center for The People & The Press, found that after more than three decades of debate, views on abortion continue to be remarkably stable - with a consistent majority supporting a woman's right to terminate a pregnancy, even as many express ambivalence. "The abortion issue, which has dominated the early skirmishing over Roberts' nomination is of most interest to people at the extreme left and the extreme right," said Andrew Kohut, director of the Pew Research Center. "But people in the middle have a more complex and ambivalent view: They support a woman's right to have an abortion, yet they favor many of the reforms. The public has a fairly moderate view, even as the issue is a red flag [in political debates]." The Pew study, which was based on two surveys last month of the public's attitudes toward social issues, has a margin of error of 2.5 and 3 percentage points for different sections. For the first time, the study found that a narrow majority of Americans (53 percent) favors civil unions that would give gay couples many of the same legal rights as married couples, even though they continue to oppose gay marriage. The survey also shows growing support for stem cell research among all major religious groups - with the exception of white evangelical Protestants. About a third of white evangelicals support the research, compared with 70 percent of mainline Protestants, 61 percent of white Catholics and large majorities (77 percent)of nonchurchgoers. For liberal Democrats, the study found, no issue facing the Supreme Court rivaled abortion in importance. But conservatives and white evangelicals ranked the rights of detained terrorist suspects (69 percent) and permitting religious displays on government property (68 percent) nearly as high as abortion (75 percent). Large majorities in all religious groups and about two-thirds of nonchurchgoers told pollsters they believe girls younger than 18 should receive parental consent before an abortion. The poll found less agreement on allowing women to obtain the "morning after pill" without a doctor's prescription, with 52 percent in favor, and 37 percent opposed. << Newsday -- 8/4/05 >> |