Gallup poll: Majority back birth control, IVF, but almost half see US morality as ‘poor’

New data shows most of the nation views birth control and in vitro fertilization as “morally acceptable,” while extramarital affairs and suicide are regarded as the most “morally wrong” of several behaviors — with close to half the nation regarding overall morality in the U.S. as “poor.”

In a July 30 email, Gallup highlighted results from one of its social series polls, which the firm has been conducting each month since 2001 on key topics. A May values and belief telephone poll taken on a sample of some 1,000 adults aged 18 and older showed that respondents’ moral ratings of 19 behaviors remained stable from prior years.

Issues of human sexuality and reproduction dominated the poll, with birth control endorsed by 90 percent of the respondents and in vitro fertilization by 82 percent.

The birth control question did not distinguish between artificial contraception and fertility-awareness based methods of family planning, sometimes known as natural family planning. The church opposes artificial contraception and IVF both on the basis that these practices separate the unitive, or love-giving, dimension from the procreative, or life-giving, dimension of God’s plan for marriage; the church’s teaching affirms married couples can morally use NFP methods for the sake of responsible parenthood.

Most respondents (69 percent) approved of sex between an unmarried man and woman, and close to an equal number (68 percent) also approved of having a baby outside of marriage. Polygamy and extramarital affairs were both frowned upon, with a respective 74 percent and 86 percent of respondents indicating disapproval.

More than half (54 percent) of those surveyed said abortion was morally acceptable.

Nearly two out of three respondents (63 percent) backed medical research using stem cells from human embryos, but less than half (49 percent) approved of destroying human embryos created through IVF.

Close to two thirds of respondents (64 percent) viewed “gay or lesbian relations” as morally acceptable.

However, a majority of Americans said pornography (58 percent), changing one’s gender (51 percent) and sex between teenagers (50 percent) were morally wrong.

More than half of those surveyed supported the death penalty (55 percent) and doctor-assisted suicide (53 percent). However, 71 percent of respondents disapproved of suicide itself.

Regarding moral issues involving animals, 59 percent approved of buying and wearing clothing made of animal fur, while only 48 percent approved of medical testing on animals.

Amid some of the largest lottery jackpots in U.S history, most respondents (66 percent) approved of gambling.

Gallup researchers noted that when respondents were asked about the nation’s overall state of morality, only 15 percent rated it “excellent” or “good,” while just under half (49 percent) described it as “poor” and 34 percent calling it “only fair.”

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