WASHINGTON — Americans consider Supreme Court decisions about the rights of detained terrorists as important as its rulings on abortion, a poll found, even though abortion has been the most publicized issue in early debate about an opening on the Supreme Court.

Almost two-thirds of those polled, 63 percent, called the top court's decisions on abortion "very important," while 62 percent gave the same rating to its rulings about detained terrorists' rights, according to the poll conducted by the Pew Research Center for the People & the Press.

The poll was taken before President Bush chose John Roberts as his nominee to replace retiring Justice Sandra Day O'Connor.

"This important question of the trade-off of civil liberties and protection is one the public takes very seriously," said Andrew Kohut, director of the Pew Research Center. "The public has been reminded recently of the ongoing threat of terrorism and what we should or should not have to sacrifice for our safety."

Kohut said public concerns about the issue of detainees' rights appear to be high, even though "this has not been one of the issues at the forefront of debate about the Supreme Court."

Last year, the Supreme Court declared the Bush administration out of line for jailing foreign terrorist suspects at the Navy base in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, without access to lawyers and courts. The justices also said American terror suspects could not be held in legal limbo.

A state of war "is not a blank check for the president when it comes to the rights of the nation's citizens," O'Connor wrote in one of the cases decided last June.

Recent polling by ABC News and The Washington Post found that six in 10 Americans say the United States is adequately protecting the rights of people detained in the campaign against terrorism, such as those held at Guantanamo.

The Pew Research Center, in cooperation with the Pew Forum on Religion and Public Life, looked at current public opinion on several issues that could come before the Supreme Court:

• Almost two-thirds, 65 percent, are opposed to overturning Roe v. Wade that legalized abortion, but there also is public support for some limits on abortion. Almost three-fourths favor requiring women under age 18 to get parental consent before having an abortion.

• Just over half of those polled, 53 percent, said they support civil unions for gay people, while 36 percent said they favor gay marriage — a slight increase on both issues from a year ago.

• By almost 2-1, people think it's more important to conduct stem cell research that may lead to cures for debilitating illnesses than to avoid destroying potential life of embryos involved in such research.

• The public is divided over how far physicians can go in ending the lives of terminally ill patients.

• A majority, 55 percent, said they consider court decisions about religious displays very important.

The results are based on separate surveys conducted July 13-17 among 1,502 adults and July 7-17 among 2,000 adults. The error margin is plus or minus 2.5 percentage points, larger for subgroups.

On the Net:

Pew Research Center: http://www.people-press.org

Pew Forum: http://www.pewforum.org