The murder Sunday of George Tiller, one of the nation's few late-term abortion doctors, has shoved abortion back into the political debate in its most crass form.

Abortion quickly devolves into a conversation of polar views. Mainstream anti-abortion activists deplore Tiller's death. Then some abortion activists insinuate the anti-abortion movement's atmospherics are culpable for the murder of Tiller. Pushback follows. “Pro life” activists fight any effort to shame their cause.

The murder of a doctor at the fore of the abortion rights movement, like those of the 1990s, catalyzes a conversation of extremes. Abortion becomes either murder or freedom. It is either an issue of abolition or liberation.

But most Americans occupy the middle ground. The nation appears more divided because of how we frame the issue. Americans are asked about abortion in polarized terms. So they pick sides. Are you “pro life” or “pro choice?” Gallup found that 51 percent claim “pro life” and 42 percent claim “pro choice.”

There is a notable rise in the “pro life” view. The 51-percent finding won headlines because it was the first time, since Gallup began asking the question in 1995, that a majority identified as “pro life.” Recent FOX News and Pew Research Center polling show a similar trend.

The slight turn against abortion is partly explained by young voters. Pew data shows that voters under age 30 are more anti-abortion than voters age 30 to 64. By contrast, men and women hold generally similar views on abortion.

But Americans don't view abortion like activists.

Gallup asked the abortion question another way: whether abortion should be legal under any circumstances, legal under certain circumstances or illegal? Fifty-three percent of Americans said legal only under certain circumstances. The public has consistently favored this middle ground since Gallup first asked the question in 1975, only two years after the Roe v. Wade decision.

An April Quinnipiac University Poll illustrates the same trend. Americans believe abortion should be always legal (15 percent), usually legal (37 percent), usually illegal (27 percent) and always illegal (14 percent).

But abortion, like much in politics, is an issue where the extremes are so loud the vast middle is drowned out. The contributing factor is talk radio, cable news and blogs. Explosive issues are presented in the most explosive terms. The case is argued by ideologues.

The broadcast host: up next, the culture war takes blood. We know how the debate goes.

Cases like Tiller aggravate this polarized dynamic. Anti-abortion activists do not want the Tiller case topping the abortion conversation; someone from the “pro life” movement just took a life. Groups defending abortion rights do not want to talk about late-term abortions. About 65 to 75 percent of Americans, Pew and others have found over the years, believe late-term abortions should be illegal.

The public is more apprehensive about abortion. But Roe v. Wade still has broad support. A May CNN found that 68 percent of Americans do not want Roe overturned.

This is where the public stands. Americans are far away from supporting the abortions Tiller was willing to perform. But they are even further away from the reasoning that led a man to kill him.