July 24, 2002
Public Opinion on Abortion Policies Making News Americans generally favor parental notification and partial birth bans; mixed on U.N. family planning funding
by Lydia Saad GALLUP NEWS SERVICE
PRINCETON, NJ -- Abortion policy debates are popping up in several venues. In the U.S. Senate, a Bush judicial appointee faces scrutiny over her abortion record. In the U.S. House of Representatives, legislation is pending to outlaw the so-called "partial birth abortion" procedure. And at the United Nations, the United States has recently withheld funding for population control programs.
The issues are generating the customary political sparks in Washington, with the usual coalitions of "pro-life" and "pro-choice" groups stoking the debate. But Gallup data suggests that public reaction to the issues at hand, and to the abortion controversy more generally, is far more subtle and subdued.
Gallup's long history of polling on abortion finds some evidence that Americans are sympathetic to the pro-choice side, with the majority (58%) saying abortion laws should remain as they are or be loosened, rather than tightened.
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