Majority of Americans Self-Identify As Pro-Life

This may be a statistical outlier, but a recent Gallup poll reveals that a majority of Americans now identify themselves as pro-life.

A new Gallup Poll, conducted May 7-10, finds 51% of Americans calling themselves "pro-life" on the issue of abortion and 42% "pro-choice." This is the first time a majority of U.S. adults have identified themselves as pro-life since Gallup began asking this question in 1995.

The further breakdowns of respondents' opinions reveals more.

Gallup also found public preferences for the extreme views on abortion about even -- as they are today -- in 2005 and 2002, as well as during much of the first decade of polling on this question from 1975 to 1985. Still, the dominant position on this question remains the middle option, as it has continuously since 1975: 53% currently say abortion should be legal only under certain circumstances.

When the views of this middle group are probed further -- asking these respondents whether they believe abortion should be legal in most or only a few circumstances -- Gallup finds the following breakdown in opinion.

A full 60% of Americans believe that abortion should be completely illegal or legal in only a limited set of circumstances -- that's a huge change. If these opinions persist over time we could be in for some significant legal changes.

Additionally, if the Democrats are successful in their attempt to legalize vast swathes of illegal immigrants it is likely that the newly created citizens will swing the pendulum even further towards the pro-life side.

(HT: Gateway Pundit.)