Poll: Americans Say Abortion, Assisted Suicide and Cloning Immoral
by Steven Ertelt | Washington, DC | LifeNews.com | 5/21/13 Gallup released the results of its annual poll on whether Americans do or don’t find a couple dozen practices morally acceptable. As has frequently been the case, Americans do not find abortion to be morally okay.
The new poll finds a plurality of Americans, 49-42 percent, find abortion to be morally unacceptable. A 49-45 percentage point plurality also found assisted suicide morally unacceptable and an 83-13 percent majority find cloning human beings to be morally bad as well.
The only pro-life issue on which Americans say is morally okay is “medical research using cells from human embryos.” There, a 60-32 percentage point majority find embryonic stem cell research to be alright. Those numbers likely would have changed has Gallup informed respondents that the human embryos — unique human beings — are killed to obtain the cells for research.
Gallup’s annual Values and Beliefs poll, conducted May 2-7, finds 58 percent of Americans want either all or almost all abortions illegal — with 20% saying it should be illegal in all circumstances and 38% favoring it in only in a few circumstances.
Just 39 percent of Americans support all or most abortions remaining legal, with only 26% of Americans favoring legalized abortion under any circumstances (the position of Planned Parenthood and President Barack Obama) and 13% favoring legality under most circumstances.
The poll also showed varying groups of Americans also strongly oppose abortions and want it illegal in all or most circumstances. Some 59 percent of men and 57 percent of women want all or most abortions illegal as do 57 percent of young Americans under the age of 34. Republicans want all or most abortions illegal on a 78-21 percentage point margin while 59 percent of independents and even 43 percent of Democrats oppose all or most abortions.