Poll: 66% of Americans Say Unborn Babies are People, 52% Say Life Begins at Conception

Date: 

Thursday, April 9, 2015

by Steven Ertelt | LifeNews.com | 4/8/15 2:57 PM

 

Polling data has consistently shown Americans are pro-life on abortion and a new YouGov survey released today is no exception. The poll finds 66% of Americans say unborn babies are people and 52% say human life begins at conception.

 

The majority of Americans (56%) also believe that abortion should not be legal and another 76 percent supports unborn victims laws that would charge criminals with two crimes when they kill or injure an unborn baby in an attack on her mother. The study, which polled 1,000 people, was commissioned after no charges were filed against Dynal lane, who cut Michelle Wilkins’ 7-month-old baby Aurora out of her womb in March in Colorado.

 

From the survey:

YouGov’s latest research shows that the vast majority of Americans (66%) think that fetuses in the womb are people. Only 16% think that fetuses are not people. A majority of every demographic group believes that fetuses are people, though Democrats and people who earn over $80,000 a year (both 56%) are the least likely to say that fetuses are people. Furthermore, another 76% of Americans think that if a fetus is killed in the course of a violent attack on a pregnant woman the attacker should be charged with murder.

 

Most Americans (52%) believe that life starts at conception. A further 20% believe that life begins when a fetus is able to survive outside of the womb, while 18% think that it only begins at the moment of birth. Attitudes towards when, exactly, life begins differ greatly according to age. While 63% of over-65s and 61% of people aged 45 to 64 believe that life begins at conception, only 36% of under-30s agree with them. Just under half of under-30s either believe that life begins when a fetus can survive (25%) or at birth (22%).

 

From YouGov: “Asked broadly about abortion rights, 56% of Americans think that abortion should not be legal on request, with 17% saying that it should never be allowed and 39% saying that it should only be allowed in certain special cases. 16% support abortion until the first trimester, while 9% support it until the point of survivability. 20% believe that abortion should always be legal.”