Posted on 11/14/2019 8:27:18 AM PST by SeekAndFind
Only a quarter of evangelicals in the United States believe abortion should be illegal in all cases, according to a new poll showing that a majority of self-identified Christians in the U.S. identify as “pro-choice” and less than half of evangelicals identify as “pro-life.”
Save the Storks, a pro-life organization that partners with pregnancy centers to provide women with free ultrasounds, released a new survey this week that it sponsored through the research firm Magid.
The survey is based on online interviews with 1,000 adults nationwide ages 18 to 69 conducted in May to gauge Americans’ opinions and attitudes on abortion.
“There’s a disconnect in our culture right now,” said OB-GYN Dr. Karysse Trandem, a spokesperson for Save the Storks. “The majority of Americans believe that life begins at or before the heartbeat, but the majority of evangelicals and Catholics identify as pro-choice.”
While the research breaks down data by religious demographics, it should be noted that religious classification for the survey was done by self-identification. This means that evangelical respondents were self-identified and not determined by belief qualification.
The data shows that 25 percent of all respondents identify themselves as “pro-life” — a political term used typically to identify someone who opposes abortion — while 40 percent identified as “pro-choice” — a term typically used to identify someone who supports abortion rights.
Twenty-nine percent of respondents said they were “neither or a mix of both,” while 7 percent said they “don’t know.”
When broken down by religious background, 47 percent of self-identified evangelicals, 33 percent of mainline Protestants and 27 percent of Catholics identified themselves as “pro-life.”
Meanwhile, 30 percent of evangelicals, 33 percent of Catholics and 26 percent of mainline Protestants said they were “neither or a mix of both.”
Less than two out of 10 (18 percent) of evangelical respondents identified themselves as “pro-choice,” while 34 percent of Catholics and 36 percent of mainline Protestants said the same thing.
As for respondents who identified themselves as “non-religious,” only 14 percent identified as “pro-life” and 53 percent identified as “pro-choice.”
Although the plurality of respondents that participated in the survey identified as “pro-choice,” only 27 percent said they think abortion should be legal in all cases, while 14 percent of all respondents said that abortion should be illegal in all cases.
Thirty-four percent of pro-life respondents said they think abortion should be illegal in all cases, while 52 percent said it should illegal in most cases. Ten percent of pro-life respondents said abortion should be legal in most cases and 4 percent of pro-life respondents said abortion should be legal in all cases.
Of the 40 percent of respondents who said they were pro-choice, 52 percent believe that abortion should be legal in all cases, while 36 percent said it should be legal in most cases. Seven percent of pro-choice respondents said abortion should be illegal in all cases and 5 percent said it should be illegal in most cases.
For respondents who said they were “neither or a mix” of pro-choice and pro-life, 30 percent believe that abortion should be illegal in most cases while 51 percent believe that abortion should be legal in most cases.
Only 25 percent of evangelicals believe that abortion should be illegal in all cases, while 33 percent of evangelicals said that abortion should be illegal in most cases. Fifteen percent of evangelicals believe that abortion should be legal in all cases and 27 percent of evangelicals believe it should be legal in most cases.
By comparison, 16 percent of Catholics and 18 percent of mainline Protestants believe that abortion should be illegal in most cases. Thirty-one percent of mainline Protestants said they think abortion should be illegal in most cases, while 28 percent of Catholics said the same thing.
Thirty-eight percent of Catholics said abortion should be legal in most cases, while 28 percent of mainline Protestants said the same thing. Nearly one-quarter (23 percent) of mainline Protestants said abortion should be legal in most cases, while 18 percent of Catholics said the same.
Nearly one-quarter of respondents (23 percent) said that “yes,” they would consider abortion to be an option if they or their partners became pregnant. Meanwhile, 21 percent of respondents said “maybe” and 50 percent said “No.”
Twenty-percent of pro-choice respondents said they would not personally consider abortion an option while 6 percent of pro-life respondents said they would consider abortion to be an option.
Only 10 percent of evangelicals said that abortion would be an option for them personally, while 17 percent of Catholics and 15 percent of mainline Protestants said the same. Eleven percent of evangelicals said that abortion would “maybe” be an option while 72 percent of evangelicals surveyed said that abortion would not be an option.
One quarter (25 percent) of Catholics said that abortion would “maybe” be an option, while 54 percent said it would not be. As for mainline Protestant respondents, 57 percent said abortion would not be an option for them while 22 percent said abortion would “maybe” be an option.
The survey found that non-religious respondents (36 percent) were more than twice as likely than Christian respondents to say that abortion would be an option for them if they or their partners got pregnant. Still, the plurality of non-religious respondents (42 percent) says that abortion would not be an option for them personally.
Forty-two percent of evangelicals say a fetus is considered a living being at the point of conception, while 31 percent of Catholics, 34 percent of mainline Protestants and 21 percent of non-religious respondents expressed the same belief.
Thirty-eight percent of Catholics, 36 percent of evangelicals and 30 percent of mainline Protestants believe that a fetus is living at the time its heart beats.
This indicates that majorities for evangelicals, Catholics and mainline respondents believe that a fetus is living when a heartbeat can be detected or earlier in gestation.
Even among the non-religious respondents, 55 percent believe a fetus is living when the heartbeat can be detected or earlier.
“We hope this research is the beginning of an honest dialogue among Christians,” Save the Storks President Paul Isaacs said in a statement. “We are going to have to work harder to equip the next generation of Christians to have a more life-affirming ethic on this issue.”
The survey comes after a Gallup poll earlier this year found that 58 percent of respondents oppose legislation that would ban abortion once a baby’s heartbeat can be detected.
Over the past year, several states have enacted restrictions on abortion such as bills making abortion illegal once a heartbeat can be detected or as early as six weeks into gestation. Such bills have come under the scrutiny of abortion rights activists who claim such laws are too restrictive when it comes to women’s access to abortion.
An Hill-Harris X survey of 1,000 respondents published earlier this year found that 55 percent of respondents say that bills banning abortion after six weeks of pregnancy are either “too lenient” or “just right.” That same survey found that only 45 percent believed that a 6-week abortion ban legislation is “too restrictive.”
Were these San Francisco “evangelicals”?
Those are probably the ones that also support “gay marriage”.
Sure thing! Get lost!
Are they really evangelicals? How many answered they way they did because of the media created stigma of being called pro life?
And these thousand people were contacted how?
An ever growing number of Americans refuse to answer calls from numbers not on their contact list. I understand that this has been the majority of Americans for some time now.
They don’t read mail isn’t a letter from someone they know or a bill they are expecting. People who do answer polls intentionally lie and discuss how to lie to pollsters in funny ways.
I don’t think that there are any accurate polls about anything.
Very strict question, most honest people would allow abortion to save the life of the mother.
This poll makes those people answer ‘pro-abortion’.
2 Corinthians 5:10
10 For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ, so that each one may receive what is due for what he has done in the body, whether good or evil.
In case you are thinking that abortion is not evil
Psalm 127:
Behold, children are a heritage from the Lord,
the fruit of the womb, a reward.
Agreed.
The definition of being a follower of Christ is being pro life
There really is no other issue
If you believe in murder and death you were a follower of Satan
If you allow for the murder of innocent life you are a follower of Satan
There is no exceptions to this rule
Matthew 7 New International Version (NIV)
13 “Enter through the narrow gate. For wide is the gate and broad is the road that leads to destruction, and many enter through it. 14 But small is the gate and narrow the road that leads to life, and only a few find it.
Many/most so-called Christians will have a rude awakening come judgement day. Only A FEW find the road that leads to life. “A FEW”. Would baby killing advocates be among the saved when only A FEW will be saved?
REPENT! GET RIGHT WITH CHRIST TODAY! Most so-called Christians will be “Left Behind”.
(unrepentant) “Murder” is a deal breaker with Christ.
You SHALL NOT murder.
“4 percent of pro-life respondents said abortion should be legal in all cases.”
These are the evangelicals...
Too many numbers for me.
I belive abortion should only be used when it is a choice between one life and/or the other. Mon and/or baby.
And only after much prayer and medeation.
I'm guessing probably not. Just look look at how many so-called Catholics vote for the dems. As a Catholic is makes me very sad. It means they take their faith very shallowly. Sad indeed.
I’m with you!
At one tie, that was myosition too, but since Ive learned that tat never hopes. I asked an ob/gyn how many times he had to make the decision whether to save the mom or the baby. He said it NEVER happened.
.....”less than half of evangelicals identify as “pro-life”....
Yet again another poll....
Today, it is impossible to be a democrat and a “saved” Christian. The Democratic platform is anti-God and excluded from salvation based on 1 Corinthians 6:9
Key phrase being "so-called". There's no sense in being down about Catholics supporting Democrats and abortion. The truth is, they are not Catholics even though the say they are in a poll. Same goes for the pro-choice opinions of "evangelicals" this article incorrectly cites. These people don't go to Church on Sundays, and they wouldn't know what a sacrament was if it bit them in the ass. The truth is, the core of real Christianity in this country is far lower than polls show. But those practicing Christians are the real deal, both Protestant and Catholic.
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