Abortion Approximately 1.6 million legal abortions are performed each year.1 The majority of Americans support legal abortion. Groups that oppose abortion believe a fetus is a person and that aborting is murder. All women have the right to choose an abortion. Supporters of choice believe that abortion is not the same as taking life. In 1985, a Newsweek poll revealed that 76% of Americans agreed abortion should be legal.2 A wide variety of professional, women�s, and religious groups, such as the National Organization for Women (NOW), the American Medical Association, and the National Association for the