A recent survey of 1,000 American adults found that 80% support the right to life for preborn children.

Interestingly, 39% of those surveyed identified as pro-choice, while 32% of respondents claimed to be pro-life and 29% identified as neither, according to the national survey conducted May 6-13. It was co-sponsored by Americans United for Life (AUL) and YouGov.

“We see powerfully through our latest AUL/YouGov national survey how intuitively supportive Americans are of the human right to life and legal rights for children prior to birth,” said Catherine Glenn Foster, president & CEO of Americans United for Life. 

Among those surveyed, other key findings include:

• 55% believe an unborn fetus is a person either at the moment a woman becomes pregnant or within the first 12 weeks of pregnancy
• 86% believe an unborn fetus is a person by the time the child is capable of surviving outside the mother’s womb, or the point of biological viability apart from a child’s mother
• 89% support rights for unborn children to be protected from violence or assault
• 51% believe that abortion ends the life of a human before birth
• 52% support the U.S. Supreme Court extending legal rights of personhood to unborn children
• 44% support state lawmakers having the power to prohibit abortion of an unborn child
• 14% believe an unborn fetus doesn’t become a person until birth

Citing the survey’s lack of majority support for state legislatures prohibiting abortion, Foster stated in a press release: “We also see the tension between Americans’ convictions and the role of law in shaping culture. We must work together to give our beliefs a voice in the law, which exists to ensure justice and equal protection for all members of the human family.

“What we should take away from the results of this latest AUL/YouGov national survey is that in a post-Roe world, Americans will rely on our executive, judicial, and legislative leaders to clarify and uphold the human right to life in practice. As crucial as the encouragement of public opinion is for the human right to life, what will most be needed post-Roe are brave and courageous political leaders who are willing to act to restore the human right to life in its fullness and to protect it for all time to come.”

Meanwhile, an expected ruling that could overturn Roe v. Wade, the 1973 case that legalized abortion nationally, could be announced as soon as Friday.

The unprecedented leak of a draft opinion in April suggests the high court is poised to overturn Roe in its ruling of another abortion case, Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization.