May 27, 2010

By Dave Andrusko

Part Two brings you up on the Elena Kagan Supreme Court nomination. At "National Right to Life News Today" (www.nationalrighttolifenews.org), you'll read one of the most powerful post-abortion stories you've ever encountered. Please send me your thoughts at daveandrusko@gmail.com. If you like join all those who are now following me on Twitter at http://twitter.com/daveha.

As we've discussed over the last couple of months, Gallup's released some very interesting survey data on American public opinion and abortion. Tuesday they offered further evidence as part of an overview headlined, "Four Moral Issues Sharply Divide Americans."

As a single-issue organization, we'll talk about three specific topics. So what can we learn about the public's take on "abortion" (the respondent is not alerted that abortion is essentially legal throughout pregnancy); "doctor-assisted suicide" (the addition of the word "doctor" skews the approval numbers upwards); and "medical research using stem cells obtained from human embryos" ("medical research" suggests something "good")? Well, for starters, the responses are predisposed towards the "morally acceptable" side.

The way the questions probe the respondents' attitude is by first establishing that "Whether or not you think it should be legal," the question is, "Whether you personally believe that in general it is morally acceptable or morally wrong" (my emphasis), followed by the particular issue.

ABORTION

As of May 3-6, 2010, 50% said it was morally wrong compared to 38% who said abortion was morally acceptable. If we went all the way back to May 2001, acceptable/wrong were nearly equal: 42% said abortion was morally acceptable and 45% said it was morally wrong.

DOCTOR ASSISTED SUICIDE

For 2010 the numbers were exactly even--46% to 46%. That is a real improvement, however. In 2009 51% said it was morally acceptable versus 44% who told Gallup it was morally wrong. In 2001 49% said it was morally acceptable to only 40% who said doctor assisted suicide was morally wrong. Good news.

MEDICAL RESEARCH USING STEM CELLS OBTAINED FROM HUMAN EMBRYOS

More diverse and more of a challenge. In 2010 59% found this morally acceptable to 32% who told Gallup it was morally wrong. Using 2002 (rather than 2001) as a base, 59% said it was acceptable but 39% said was wrong. This means that 6% moved from unacceptable to "no opinion." (One percent said it was "not a moral issue.")

But it is also true that in 2007, 64% said this was morally acceptable compared to 30% who said taking stem cells from human embryos for "medical research" was morally wrong.

I have no great conclusion on this other than that the state of public opinion is in real flux and is heavily influenced by stories in the media. We know there have a steady stream of stories touting "successes" that have supposedly used embryonic stem cells (they haven't). Yet most people probably also have in the back of their minds an inkling that, in fact, actual, proven success has come from ethically acceptable adult stem cell sources. Thus the periodic changes.

You can read the overall summary written by Lydia Saad at http://www.gallup.com/poll/137357/Four-Moral-Issues-Sharply-Divide-Americans.aspx

Part Two