Gallup: 8 in 10 Americans favor some form of legal abortion

Sept. 30 (UPI) -- Eight in 10 Americans approve of legalized abortion in some form -- but the vast majority also believe there should be at least some restrictions on the procedure, a new Gallup survey shows.

According to the poll, 79% said abortion in the United States should either be legal in all (29%) or some (50%) circumstances.

Of those who favor abortion with restrictions, 14% said it should be legal in most circumstances, 35% in some circumstances and 1% did not specify conditions.

Thus, a total of 43% of U.S. adults believe abortion should be legal in all or most circumstances, the survey found.

The numbers also show, though, that 70% of all respondents said abortion should either be entirely illegal (20%) or available only under certain circumstances (50%).

The survey found that two-thirds of respondents favor upholding the landmark Supreme Court abortion case Roe vs. Wade, which legalized abortion in the United States in 1973.

"The combined 79% of Americans who think abortion should be legal in all or under certain circumstances echoes the majority public support Gallup consistently finds for upholding Roe vs. Wade," Gallup wrote.

The survey found that 44% said abortion is morally acceptable and 47% said it's morally wrong.

Politically, 59% of Republicans and half of independents favor at least some restrictions for abortion while 49% of Democrats said it should be available in all conditions.

Seventy-eight percent American women say the procedure should either be fully legal (32%) or legal with some restrictions (46%). Among men, 79% said the same.

The age range that most favored fully legalized abortion in all cases was the 18-29 group (39%).

Gallup polled more than 1,000 U.S. adults in May for the survey, which has a margin of error of 4 points.