As of 2017, public support for legal abortion remains as high as it has been in two decades of polling. Currently, 57% say abortion should be legal in all or most cases, while 40% say it should be illegal in all or most cases.
Though abortion is a divisive issue, more than half of U.S. adults take a non-absolutist position, saying that in most–but not all cases, abortion should be legal (33%) or illegal (24%). Fewer take the position that in all cases abortion should be either legal (25%) or illegal (16%).
Seven-in-ten white evangelical Protestants (70%) think abortion should be illegal in all or most cases. By contrast, 80% of religiously unaffiliated Americans say abortion should be legal in all or most cases, as do two-thirds of white mainline Protestants (67%). Black Protestants and Catholics are somewhat more divided. Among black Pro-testants, 55% say abortion should be legal in all or most cases, while 41% say it should be illegal. And, among Catholics, 53% say abortion should be legal in all or most cases and 44% say it should be illegal.
About two-thirds of Republicans (65%) say abortion should be illegal in all or most cases. By contrast, three-quarters (75%) of Democrats say abortion should be legal in all or most cases. Among independents, 60% say abortion should be legal in all or most cases. Conservative Republicans are far more likely to say abortion should be illegal in all or most cases than to say that it should be legal (71% vs. 27%). Among moderate and liberal Republicans, opinion is more evenly divided: 54% say abortion should be legal, while 45% say it should be illegal.
