LifeNews 15 August 2013
A new Pew research poll finds Americans say abortion is morally wrong by a 3-1 margin. However, Americas are still divided on the issue of embryonic stem cell research — even though it destroys human life and still has not helped any patients.
Pew surveyed 4,006 adults nationwide from March 21 to April 8, 2013 and asked them about abortion, stem cell research and in-vitro fertilization.
Roughly half of U.S. adults (49%) say they personally believe that having an abortion is morally wrong, about the same percentage as in previous Pew Research surveys. A very small percentage of Americans say abortion is morally alright. From the Pew poll:
Asked whether abortion is morally acceptable, morally wrong or not a moral issue, only about a quarter of U.S. adults (23%) say they personally do not consider having an abortion to be a moral issue, according to a survey by the Pew Research Center.
The percentage of U.S. adults who consider abortion to be morally wrong (49%) far exceeds the percentage who express this view about in vitro fertilization (12%), non-embryonic stem cell research (16%) or embryonic stem cell research (22%).
Only 15% of the public thinks that having an abortion is morally acceptable. By comparison, about a third of U.S. adults say they personally view IVF and both forms of stem cell research as morally acceptable practices.
The poll found black and Hispanic Americans are more likely to say abortion is morally wrong than Americans who are members of mainline Protestant churches that take pro-abortion positions.
Opinions on the morality of abortion differ widely among religious groups. Fully three-quarters of white evangelical Protestants consider having an abortion morally wrong, as do about two-thirds of Hispanic Catholics (64%). A majority of black Protestants (58%) and about half of white Catholics (53%) say the same. Fewer white mainline Protestants (38%) and religiously unaffiliated adults (25%) hold this view.
Relatively small percentages of people in all religious groups consider it morally acceptable to have an abortion. However, among the unaffiliated, roughly equal shares say having an abortion is morally acceptable (28%) and morally wrong (25%).
http://www.lifenews.com/2013/08/15/americans-say-abortion-morally-wrong-by-a-three-to-one-margin/