Americans Split on Abortion with Obama in Office

(CBS/AP)

As the debate over abortion rights has been injected into the health care deliberations this year, more Americans say they are opposed to strong abortion rights than in previous years, making the country evenly split on the issue, according to a new poll.

Down seven points from last year, 47 percent of Americans said this summer that abortion should be legal in most cases, according to a poll (PDF) from the Pew Research Center. The poll, conducted from Aug. 11 - 27, 2009, found that 45 percent of Americans said abortion should be illegal in most cases -- an increase of four points from 2008.

The decline in support for legal abortion first became apparent in the spring of 2009, and according to Pew, that may be related to President Obama's election. Just over half of conservative Republicans polled by Pew said they worry the president will go too far in supporting abortion rights.

"No single reason for the shift in opinions is apparent, but the pattern of changes suggests that the election of a pro-choice Democrat for president may be a contributing factor," a summary of the poll says.

Even so, the poll shows a weakening level of concern about the issue of abortion among both Democrats and Republicans, though much more so among Democrats. Indeed, in the latest CBS/New York Times poll (PDF) taken this month, only 3 percent of Americans said moral issues were the most important problem facing the country today, with the vast majority of respondents saying the economy, health care or other issues were more important.

The Pew poll showed that 42 percent of Americans surveyed did not know Mr. Obama's stance on abortion rights.

While Americans today appear split on the issue, the president has sought common ground by attempting to reduce the number of abortions by addressing issues that may prompt women to terminate pregnancies. Mr. Obama describes himself as "pro-choice," but told CBS News Evening News Anchor Katie Couric that in terms of the current health care debate, he would like to preserve the tradition of not using government funds to pay for abortion services.

[SHEETPAN]

To say that all republicans are pro- life is a flat out lie. Rudy Guliani is pro -choice as is Geoge Pataki and hundreds of other Republican politicians. And to say that men should have no say at all is reverse sexism. We all know that it's ultimatly up to the woman involved as to the outcome of a pregnancy. But men have every right to express thier sentiments. As to rape and incest, It my right wing opinion that anyone who would force a woman to 9 months of pregnancy and child birth under those circumstances, should be raped themselves. I personally, do not want the government involved in child birth issues. And it is my hope that someday, we as a species will realize for ourselves that there is no greater gift than life itself. Weather you think that gift of life is from God or nature makes no difference at all. There is however, one circumstance where society has a right to demand responsibility. Unless a woman faces serious medical risk, the procedure known as partial birth abortion should not be allowed. This procedure is a disgraceful stain on humankind.

[abbe91]

I wonder whether Perry is pro-life ...

http://www.star-telegram.com/politics/story/1647991.html

[jankebenzone]

The poll found that 7 percent fewer americans support abortion,hopefully this news is an indication that more americans are slowly regaining their senses and conscience.

[dolansprings]

I think that those 7% are males who have decided to weigh in on the issue. It's mostly white males that I see ranting and raving about 'killing babies' This is a woman's issue and I don't beleive a man should have any say so in it. Until a man develops female reproductive organs he should just butt out.

[kansas1946]

Did their best friend, their true love, their generation's Obama, Einstein, Picasso get dumped into a trash can outside some clinic somewhere? You see the horrors of illegal abortion, they wonder about the affects of legal abortion. It is only a choice for one person.
*****************************************************

Lousy argument. It could of been their generations, Hitler, Edi Amin, or Timothy McVey, that got dumped. I understand the feelings of the "other side." No pro-choice person is heartless. But a woman should have control of her own body, just as men should. You can make abortion illegal all that you want and it does nothing to stop abortion, it just kills women.

[dolansprings]

Yes Kansas, you are exactly right. The younger generation has no concppt of what it was like. 'Back alley/ abortions done with either coat hangers or knives on dirty kitchen tables were the norm. Vasectomies were illegal. No birth control pill. If you were married you just kept on having children with no alternatives until your health was gone. They have no idea!

[SHEETPAN]

If we beleive ourselves to be a thoughtful and evolving species. Does it make sense that we spend so much effort in figuring out and protecting ways to kill our own offspring before they are born?

[proudmilvet]

Why do so many Pro-Choice people use the argument that you can't tell a woman what to do with her body. Why can't they be more concerned about that other little body growing inside of them?

[stuart-johns1]

only 3 percent of Americans said moral issues were the most important problem facing the country today, with the vast majority of respondents saying the economy, health care or other issues were more important.
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I am against abortion being used as birth control. I am for abortion when it is a legitimate medical procedure to save the mother's life. I think the issue of abortion is a sad one. I wish abortion never existed.

But it is a personal issue, a legal right, and since all of the objections on abortion are based in religion, I think it is between a person and God if that's what they believe in and even if it's not what they believe in.

But to the segment I posted. This is scary. All of our problems in this country ARE about a lack of moral integrity. To think that only 3% of Americans (according to this poll) feel that the economy and healthcare are more important than moral issues is not a good sign.

These issue are important, of course. But how can you fix them if you ignore what caused them?

[kansas1946]

That is because that most of the folks answering polls on abortion weren't even alive when it was illegal. I was, and I can assure you, that if abortion was made illegal, that all those fence sitters would be off the fence pronto. No one remembers the horrors of illegal abortion, just like no one remembers the horrors women went through just to be able to get birth control made legal, or the horrors they went through to get the vote. The women of my generation fought the abortion fight and we are worn out. So if you young women don't make sure that you maintain that right for your daughters and grandaughters, then you will bear the consequences of dead and butchered young women, maybe one of them your own daughter or granddauther.

[inketolstoy]

"That is because that most of the folks answering polls on abortion weren't even alive when it was illegal."

Your are kind of right kansas. But then again, you probably wouldn't understand that people born after 1973 don't look in the mirror and say, "Yeah, my mother had the right to kill me." I do know that they mightlook around and wonder how different their generation might have been if millions of them hadn't been aborted. Did their best friend, their true love, their generation's Obama, Einstein, Picasso get dumped into a trash can outside some clinic somewhere? You see the horrors of illegal abortion, they wonder about the affects of legal abortion. It is only a choice for one person.

[ludvig1-2009]

That would shore up Social Security if their had been more births.