New Polling on Abortion: Cause for Hope
Ramesh Ponnuru cites the results of a poll sponsored by the Susan B. Anthony List on the public's opinion regarding the following six abortion options:
- Abortion should be illegal
- Illegal with an exception for the life of the mother
- Illegal with that exception and an exception for rape and incest
- Legal for any reason in the first trimester
- Legal for any reason in the first and second trimester
- Legal for any reason throughout pregnancy
The results were: 16%, 16%, 22%, 21%, 8%, and 12%, respectively. In other words, 54% support some variation of the pro-life position (the first three choices) and 41% support some variation of the pro-choice position (the last three). Only 12% support the current legal status quo, the sixth option.
Comments
And still Congress is so reticent to act! It looks like nothing will be done until the numbers are so overwheming on our side that to ignore them would spell sure defeat at the ballot box. Where have the leaders of principle gone? Certainly not to Washington!
Posted by: Gloria Nafziger | April 26, 2006 8:10 AM
I agree that Congress can do more, but I think they're taking the right approach: start with banning procedures that virtually no one is willing to defend, like Partial Birth Abortion. This isolates the hard-core 12% that are opposed to any restrictions on abortion. Then go after items like parental consent, informed consent, etc.
An outright ban like the one in Sourth Dakota is much less likely to succeed. By taking that approach, you end up with only 16% of the public on your side.
Posted by: Don Roberts | April 26, 2006 4:26 PM
Some pro-lifers shun an incremental approach because of the terrible evil of abortion, and I understand this, but pro-aborts gained the ground they did incrementally, and I think we'll have greater success if we use their own game against them. The sentiments of the country are becoming more pro-life.
Posted by: Lisa Roberts | May 3, 2006 9:41 PM