This poll is fascinating: at the beginning of the poll, people oppose overturning Roe v. Wade 55 percent to 34 percent. Then, the pollsters ask a series of questions delving into the specifics of abortion. At the end, the pollsters ask again how many people support overturning Roe v. Wade, and by then a lot of people have changed their minds. The numbers then are 48 percent to 43 percent (the majority is still opposed to overturning the law).
A few quick thoughts.
1)The Church’s position — that abortion should be legal in some extreme circumstances — is widely supported and seems logical.
2)In addition to educating people on abortion, it is also true that this poll shows the importance of how questions are asked in polls.
3)The amount of misinformation and lack of understanding regarding the abortion issue is amazing to me. My liberal friends all say the same thing regarding abortion — they support a “woman’s right to choose.” But when you start discussing the issue with them they will admit that abortion is a horrible thing and that there is no getting around the issue of human life being snuffed out, certainly in late-term abortions. When I discuss this with my liberal friends, we usually end up in about the same place — abortion should be restricted in some cases and permitted in others. Obviously we disagree on some of the areas in which abortion should be permitted and restricted, but we are not that far apart on the issue at the end of the day.
It’s sad to me that Roe v Wade has caused 34 years of unnecessary contention over abortion: appealing to the the democratic process through state legislatures would have been so much more appropriate.