Americans Consider Abortion Moral Issue

Religion Today | Published: Aug 26, 2013

Americans Consider Abortion Moral Issue

Americans consider abortion a moral issue whether they approve or disapprove of the lethal procedure's legality, Baptist Press reports. A new public opinion poll by the Pew Research Center found only 23 percent of those surveyed think abortion is not a moral issue. Of those who consider it a moral issue, 49 percent say undergoing an abortion is morally wrong, while only 15 percent say it is morally acceptable. Among religious groups, white evangelical Protestants provide the strongest moral opposition to abortion. The breakdown by groups who say abortion is morally wrong is: white evangelical Protestants, 75 percent; Hispanic Catholics, 64 percent; black Protestants, 58 percent; white Catholics, 53 percent; and white mainline Protestants, 38 percent. By gender, a slightly higher percentage of women consider abortion morally wrong, 50-48 percent. Public opinion on abortion as a moral issue contrasted with the views expressed on embryonic stem cell research (ESCR), which requires the destruction of days-old human embryos. More than a third of Americans (36 percent) say such research is a moral issue, according to the poll. Of those who consider ESCR a moral issue, only 22 percent consider it morally wrong, while 32 percent think it is morally acceptable.



Americans Consider Abortion Moral Issue