In compelling news for those who value the dignity of human life at every stage, a majority of Americans — 52 percent — now believe abortion is a sin, a new survey released Monday revealed.

The 2018 State of Theology survey reported that the figure rose from 49 percent in 2016, noted The Daily Caller.

With a majority in the country believing abortion to be a sin, one pastor thinks these positive survey results call for needed protections for the unborn.

“For almost five decades now, abortion has been a central issue in the life of America,” Southern Baptist Theological Seminary President Dr. R. Albert Mohler Jr. said, according to Ligonier Ministries of Sanford, Florida.

He added, “With a majority agreeing that abortion is a sin, we have a clear indication that many Americans want the state to restore protection to the unborn child. There would be considerable support for a Supreme Court decision reversing Roe v. Wade.”

He also noted the advances in technology that are helping the pro-life cause: “Ultrasound images plainly show the humanity of the child in the womb, and they are provoking the consciences of Americans. Christians are playing a lead role in providing counsel and practical care for those in need.”

Since 1973, about 60 million unborn babies have died as a result of abortion, LifeSiteNews reported — nearly 90 times the number of U.S. soldiers who lost their lives in every war since 1775, the American Family Association pointed out.

LifeWay Research conducted the new survey; it’s a company that “assists and equips church leaders with insight and advice that will lead to greater levels of church health and effectiveness,” according to its website. The new study was sponsored by Ligonier Ministries.

Online interviews of 3,002 “demographically balanced” American adults were undertaken to obtain the results; the survey was conducted last spring, with a margin of error of less than or equal to 1.9 percent.

Seventy-six percent of Americans also want significant abortion restrictions, including making abortion illegal after the first trimester, a January Marist poll revealed, as The Daily Caller noted.

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Only 12 percent of Americans think abortion should be available to a woman at any time during her nine months of pregnancy, that poll said.

Related: This ‘Abortion Doula’ Is Thrilled About Helping to End Thousands of Pregnancies

Forty-nine percent of 18- to 34-year-old Americans would support a ban on abortions after 20 weeks of pregnancy if the policy were enacted in their state, a 2017 Quinnipiac poll revealed, said The Daily Caller.

Interestingly, the new LifeWay survey revealed that 69 percent of Americans agree “God is a perfect being and cannot make a mistake.” That’s higher than both the 2016 (65 percent) and 2014 (63 percent) surveys revealed.

Fifty-seven percent of Americans also agree with the statement “Jesus is the only person who never sinned.”

A majority — 54 percent — of Americans agree, “Hell is a real place where certain people will be punished forever,”  the new survey also found.

See an intellectual argument against abortion in the video below.