Opposition to Abortion Is Strong and Growing

By Dave Andrusko

Two things can be said about abortion and public opinion without fear of contradiction. First, Americans increasingly self-identify as pro-life (there is now parity between pro-lifers and "pro-choicers") and not only reject abortion on demand but also disapprove of the reasons for which most women say they obtain almost all abortions. Second, Americans have always been much more pro-life than you would believe if you'd relied on the interpretation of many prominent polling organizations.

How can that be? In some cases, pure bias has kept the public in the dark. As NRLC President Wanda Franz, Ph.D., wrote in her September 2002 NRL News column, "The radical sweep of the Court's decision [has been] hidden from the public. While Roe effectively legalized abortion on demand throughout the pregnancy (as long as the woman found a willing abortionist), many press reports to this day describe the decision as legalizing abortion 'in the first trimester' and imply that abortions would be primarily done for medical reasons."

Dr. Franz cited the opinion research firm Louis Harris and Associates which on at least 16 occasions polled using a question that stated that the Court in Roe v. Wade had ruled "that the decision on whether a woman should have an abortion up to three months of pregnancy [emphasis added] should be left to a woman and her doctor to decide." As Dr. Franz observed, "To distort the whole effect of Roe v. Wade this badly is either a mark of incompetence or of willful dishonesty in order to skew the poll."

Other organizations have offered abortion questions the wording of which also strongly implies that abortion is limited to the first trimester. This, unfortunately, includes the influential Associated Press (AP) newswire organization. The effect is to lull people into thinking that Roe would ban abortions after the first trimester, which is patently false.

Another reason the pro-life sentiment of the average American has been underrated is that opinions need to be probed in order to understand what people really believe. Let's use only one of many examples, an August 14, 1997, CNN/USA/Gallup poll. (See above.)

The question was, "Do you think abortion should be legal under any circumstances, legal only certain circumstances, or illegal in all circumstances?" As the chart above demonstrates, 22% said legal under any circumstances, 61% said legal under some circumstances, while 15% said abortion should be illegal in all circumstances.

But what if you asked the 61% who said legal in "some circumstances" this question: "Should abortion be legal in most situations or only a few?" Only 12% said legal in most circumstances, while 48% said legal in only a few.

All of a sudden you see a recurring pattern: Almost two-thirds of Americans (63%) believe abortion should be illegal in all circumstances (15%) or legal only in a few circumstances (48%).

And, by the way, poll after poll shows that women are more pro-life than men, sometimes by as much as 10%!

In addition, toleration for abortion for "social reasons" - - for example, a woman wants an abortion because the child "would interrupt her career" or because she doesn't wish to marry the baby's father - - continues to be low and in most cases getting lower.

Space does not permit an in-depth look at the impact of the debate over partial-birth abortion, other than to say its influence would be hard to exaggerate. Merely talking about this "procedure," when augmented by nothing more than simple black and white drawings, forced many Americans to go back to the drawing board.

For example, saying in the abstract that you're in favor of abortion in "all circumstances" is one thing. Repeating that glib assurance after contemplating an abortionist jamming surgical scissors in the back of the head of a mature baby and sucking out her brains is quite another.

Consider this very important insight, taken from a January 22, 2002, Gallup Poll Special Report, "Public Opinion About Abortion - - An In-Depth Review," written by Lydia Saad (which can be found at gallup.com/poll/specialreports/poll Summaries). She writes,

"It is worth highlighting that in July 1996, coincident with the emergence of a new national debate over partial-birth abortion, Gallup recorded a significant drop in the number of Americans saying abortion should be legal in all cases. Since then, the percentage favoring unrestricted abortions has averaged just 25%, down from about 33% in the previous five years.

"Two aspects of this adjustment make it unprecedented. First, it happened quickly, occurring between September 1995 and July 1996. Second, it represents the first time since Gallup began asking its principal abortion question in 1975 that opinion on the issue shifted in a significant and sustained way to the conservative side, rather than to the liberal side.

"Given the timing of the shift, it appears that the debate over partial-birth abortion is the cause for this adjustment in public attitudes. It appears that partial-birth abortion became an important factor for Americans to consider when crystallizing their own positions on abortion.

"Specifically, partial-birth abortion became a widely familiar 'circumstance' in 1996 that some people who previously favored 'abortion in all circumstances' may have had in mind when they moved into the 'only certain circumstances' category.

"Indeed, a large number of Americans who generally think abortion should be legal in all cases, nevertheless say they favor a ban on partial-birth abortion (57%, according to a March 2000 Gallup poll). Thus, the potential for this issue to move some of these people into the 'only certain circumstances' category is clear."

This article could go on for page after page with example after example of good news. Let's end with this, which was treated in much detail in the December 2002 edition of NRL News.

In early November the Buffalo News conducted a local and national survey which served as a backdrop for a number of stories which appeared in the paper in late November. The first paragraph of the story that analyzed the polling results read, "More than one-fifth of Americans surveyed say they're less in favor of abortion today than they were a decade ago - - and that's nearly twice the number who say they've become more pro-choice."

Put another way, almost exactly one-third of the respondents said their feelings about abortion had changed over the past 10 years. Those who were less in favor of abortion outnumbered those more in favor of abortion by an almost 2-1 margin: 21% to 11.3%. Perhaps as significant is that only 5.4% said they were "much more" in favor of abortion than they were a decade ago compared to 14.5% who were "much less" in favor of abortion. As always the intensity factor redounds to the benefit of unborn babies.

Young people - - the future of this debate - - were asked, "By law, in which one of the following circumstances should abortion be permitted?" We learn that 21.9% of 18- to 29-year-olds said "always," while a whopping 33.2% of this same age group said "never."

Another 30.1% would tolerate abortion only in instances of rape, incest, or when the mother's life is endangered. Combined, that is almost two-thirds - - 63.3%.

But in many ways the most revealing results came in response to what people would say to those close to them who are contemplating an abortion. "If a relative or close friend told you she was pregnant," respondents were asked, "and wanted to get an abortion which of the following statements best expresses your reaction?" More than two-thirds (67.4%) said either "tell her abortion is wrong" (32.7%) or advise against her decision (34.7%).

While the wording in the poll proper is not entirely clear, it would appear that only 19.1% would advise her to go ahead "if she thinks it is right." That is a 3-1/2 to 1 pro-life advantage.

As you will read elsewhere in this special Commemorative Edition, pro-lifers are much more likely to vote "single issue" on abortion than are pro-abortionists. In most circumstances this makes a difference, in many cases a huge difference as was the case this past November.

Rest assured, the American public is with us. Better yet more and more are willing not only to tell that to pollsters but also to join our ranks.

Majorities continue to believe that abortion should be legal only under limited circumstances, although the 1973 Supreme Court abortion decisions legalized abortion under any circumstances.

Do you think abortions should be legal under any circumstances, legal only under certain circumstances, or illegal in all circumstances?

Legal under any - 22%

Certain circumstances - 61%

Illegal in all - 15%

CNN/USA TODAY / Gallup Poll, August 14, 1997

Should abortion be legal in most situations or only a few? (asked of the 61% who answered "some circumstances" to the previous question)

Most circumstances - 12%

Few circumstances - 48%

CNN/USA TODAY / Gallup Poll, August 14, 1997

Therefore, a majority of Americans - - 63% - - believe abortion should be legal in no circumstances (15%) or legal only in a few circumstances (48%).

No or few circumstances - 63%

All or most circumstances - 34%

CNN/USA TODAY / Gallup Poll, August 14, 1997