45% of Americans said abortion should be illegal in most cases

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As the debate over abortion rights has been injected into the health care deliberations this year, more Americans say they are opposed to strong abortion rights than in previous years, making the country evenly split on the issue, according to a new poll.

Down seven points from last year, 47 percent of Americans said this summer that abortion should be legal in most cases, according to a poll from the Pew Research Center. The poll, conducted from Aug. 11 - 27, 2009, found that 45 percent of Americans said abortion should be illegal in most cases -- an increase of four points from 2008.

The decline in support for legal abortion first became apparent in the spring of 2009, and according to Pew, that may be related to President Obama's election. Just over half of conservative Republicans polled by Pew said they worry the president will go too far in supporting abortion rights.



(CBS/AP)