Poll: Majority of Americans Favor Restrictions on Abortion

The abortion debate is often simplified into a "pro-life" and "pro-choice" paradigm, but a new poll shows that views on the controversial procedure are actually quite complicated, with a majority of Americans from both sides favoring significant restrictions.

A new Knights of Columbus-Marist poll found that, on the whole, 84 percent of Americans favor restrictions on abortion. While the majority of self-professed pro-lifers agreed with this sentiment, so too did 69 percent of those who call themselves pro-choice.

Adding to this dynamic, survey respondents were far more likely to believe that there are too many abortions (64 percent) in America than they were to say that there are too few (7 percent).

Knights of Columbus-Marist Poll

On the moral front, too, this dynamic was observed, with 60 percent of Americans claiming that they believe the procedure is morally wrong, with 38 percent deeming it acceptable, according to a press release announcing the results.

In the end, Americans are also more likely to view abortion as doing more harm to women (59 percent) than they are to claim that it does them good (22 percent).

The survey was conducted by Marist Poll and was commissioned by the Knights of Columbus, a Catholic organization. It included 2,079 U.S. adults aged 18 and older and was conducted the second week of January, yielding a margin of error of +/- 2 percentage points.

Read the results here.