October 2, 2009
Support for abortion rights down in survey
by Heidi Przybyla
The Boston Globe
The percentage of Americans who support abortion rights has slipped since last year, and opinion on the issue is now evenly divided, according to a new survey by the Pew Research Center for the People & the Press.
The survey results mark a change from 2007 and 2008, when supporters of legal abortion clearly outnumbered opponents, Pew said. Four in 10 Americans now say they favor making it more difficult to obtain an abortion, up six percentage points from in 2007. Fifty percent oppose making it more difficult, down six percentage points from the earlier survey.
The percentage of those who say abortion should be illegal in all or most cases rose four percentage points since last year to 45 percent. Those who say it should be legal declined seven percentage points to 47 percent.
The shift is largely along partisan lines, the poll indicated. Among Republicans, there has been a seven-point decline in support for abortion rights and a six-point increase in opposition.
Read the complete story (Some news sites require registration)
Related Headlines
Abortion dispute with Catholic bishops could hinder Obama's health care bill in Senate
