New low of 41% say they are 'pro-choice'

PRINCETON, N.J., May 23 (UPI) -- Forty-one percent of U.S. residents asked identify themselves as "pro-choice" on abortion, down from 47 percent in July and a new low, Gallup said Wednesday.

Fifty percent now call themselves "pro-life," 1 percentage point less than the record high in May 2009, poll results indicated.

Gallup has been asking respondents to describe themselves as "pro-choice" or "pro-life" on abortion since 1995, and since then, identification with the labels shifted from a large lead for the "pro-choice" position in the mid-1990s to a close division between the "pro-choice" and "pro-life" since 2009.

In 2003, people identifying themselves as "pro-choice" was at 48 percent, and that hovered around 50 percent from then until the latest survey.

The "pro-life" position was ahead on two occasions, once in May 2009 and again after this survey, the Princeton, N.J., polling agency said.

Since 2001, the majority of Republicans consistently have taken the "pro-life" position, gradually widening the gap over "pro-choice" through the years, Gallup said. The percentage of political independents identifying themselves as "pro-choice" has fallen since May 2011. Democrats' views on abortion have changed the least.

Results are based on nationwide telephone interviews with 1,024 adults conducted May 3-6. The margin of error is 4 percentage points.