Poll: Most favor tight abortion language

WASHINGTON, Nov. 18 (UPI) -- Six in 10 Americans favor banning use of federal funds for abortion, a CNN/Opinion Research Corp. poll indicated Wednesday.

Poll results also indicated a majority of Americans also favor legislation that would bar many women from getting their health plans to cover an abortion, even if paying for the procedure doesn't involve federal money.

The healthcare reform bill approved by the House of Representatives includes tight restrictions on using federal money for abortions. A bill that cleared the Senate Finance Committee includes looser language, but it remains unclear what abortion language would be in the bill when it is presented to the full Senate.

Sixty-one percent of those surveyed indicated they oppose using public money for women who can't pay for an abortion on their own while 37 percent said they favor allowing federal funds be used for the procedure, results showed.

Fifty-one percent said they thought women should bear the full cost of an abortion even when they have private insurance and no federal funds are involved, while 45 percent of respondents said they thought private insurance should cover the cost.

Results indicated 26 percent of respondents said abortion should be legal in all circumstances, with half saying it should be legal in certain circumstances, and slightly less than one in four saying abortion should never be legal.

The CNN/Opinion Research Corp. telephone poll surveyed 1,014 adults Friday through Sunday. The margin of error is 3 percentage points.