GALLUP NEWS SERVICE
PRINCETON, NJ -- January 22 marks the 29th anniversary of the landmark 1973 Supreme Court decision legalizing abortion, and all these years later, a Gallup poll finds that the controversy is not resolved for many Americans. Although a majority of U.S. adults would keep abortion legal in this country, fewer than half are satisfied with the nation's abortion policies.
According to a Jan. 7-10 Gallup survey, 48% of Americans are "satisfied" with the nation's abortion policies, and 43% are dissatisfied. When asked in a separate question whether abortion policies should be changed or remain as they are, only 39% say they should stay the same. Another 39% would like to see abortion policies made more strict while 19% would prefer them to be less strict.
Putting these two attitudes together, Gallup finds that a majority of Americans (58%) are content keeping abortion legal, either saying they want abortion laws made less strict, or indicating satisfaction with keeping the laws as they are. Close to one third (30%) are intent on seeing abortion laws restricted. (The remaining 26% express a more ambiguous set of views -- for instance, saying they support stricter laws on abortion at the same time they say they are satisfied with current laws.)
Stability in Abortion Views
These attitudes are virtually unchanged from a year ago. In fact, Gallup trends on the subject of abortion show that attitudes on this subject rarely change.
Gallup's long-term trend question on abortion asks, "Do you think abortions should be legal under any circumstances, legal only under certain circumstances, or illegal in all circumstances?" From 1975 through today, only a minority of Americans have held one of the extreme positions, either that abortion should be made totally legal or totally illegal. The majority has continually said that abortion should be legal "only under certain circumstances." Most recently, according to an August 2001 survey, about a quarter of Americans (26%) believe abortion should be legal in all cases, a little over half (56%) say it should be legal in certain cases, and 17% say it should be illegal in all cases.
| Gallup Trend: 1975-2001 Under What Circumstances Should Abortion be Legal? |
 |
Not only have a majority of Americans continually favored the middle position on abortion, but Gallup finds consistent patterns of support among key subgroups of the population. Democrats tend to be more supportive than Republicans of keeping abortion legal. Support for abortion rights increases with formal education and household income. A majority of self-described "conservatives" believe abortion policy should be made more strict while the plurality of "liberals" think abortion law should remain as it is.
Relatively small differences typically exist in the attitudes of men and women. Consistent with this, only minor gender differences appear in Gallup's most recent survey, with women slightly more likely than men to favor stricter abortion laws. Looking at the age of each group, it appears that this difference is driven by the more conservative views of older women.
| Percent Saying Abortion Laws Should be More
Strict: Gender by Age |
 |
| Jan 7-9, 2002 |
|
Percent Saying Abortion Laws Should be More
Strict
|
|||
|
Women 18-49 |
Women 50+ |
Men 18-49 |
Men 50+ |
|
37% |
48 |
36 |
38 |
But the greatest differences in attitudes toward abortion are seen by religiosity.
Church Goers Most Keen to See Stricter Laws
Devoutly religious Americans appear to be the most supportive of further restrictions on abortion. Almost two-thirds of Americans who attend their church or other place of worship on a weekly basis say they would like the nation's abortion laws to be made more strict. Less than half of those who attend church almost weekly feel this way, as well as just a quarter of those who attend less frequently.
| Abortion Attitudes by Frequency of Church Attendance |
 |
| Jan 7-9, 2002 |
|
Abortion Attitudes by Frequency of Church Attendance
|
|||
|
Weekly |
Nearly Weekly |
Less Often |
|
|
Make laws more strict |
65% |
46 |
23 |
|
Keep laws the same |
24% |
41 |
47 |
|
Make laws less strict |
9% |
12 |
27 |
Survey Methods
These results are based on telephone interviews with a randomly selected national sample of 1,015 adults, 18 years and older, conducted Jan. 7-9, 2002. For results based on this sample, one can say with 95 percent confidence that the maximum error attributable to sampling and other random effects is plus or minus 3 percentage points. In addition to sampling error, question wording and practical difficulties in conducting surveys can introduce error or bias into the findings of public opinion polls.
Next, we'd like to know how you feel about the state of the nation in each of the following areas. For each one, please say whether you are -- very satisfied, somewhat satisfied, somewhat dissatisfied, or very dissatisfied. If you don't have enough information about a particular subject to rate it, just say so. How about -- [ROTATED]?
A. The nation's policies regarding the abortion issue
|
Very |
Somewhat satisfied |
Somewhat dissatisfied |
Very dissatisfied |
No |
|
|
2002 Jan 7-9 |
11% |
37 |
19 |
24 |
9 |
|
2001 Jan 10-14 |
11% |
32 |
21 |
26 |
10 |
Would you like to see abortion laws in this country made more strict, less strict, or remain as they are?
|
More |
Less |
Remain |
OTHER |
No |
|
|
2002 Jan 7-9 |
39% |
19 |
39 |
* |
3 |
|
2001 Jan 10-14 |
34% |
17 |
46 |
1 |
2 |
(vol.) – Volunteered response
* -- Less than 0.5%
