Blogs For Victory

The pro-choicers (so-called) insist we are, and in a certain sense they might be correct, but how does this play out in the real world?

A U.S. nationwide poll shows that almost all Americans thing abortion should be restricted.

The poll was conducted for the Knights of Columbus by the Marist College Institute of Public Opinion between Sept. 24 and Oct. 3. It aimed to enable comparisons of the views of Catholic voters with those of the general electorate.

The poll asked respondents to state which of six statements came closest to describing their opinion on abortion.

Only 8% of U.S. residents chose the statement saying abortion should be available to a woman any time she wants during her entire pregnancy.

That same percentage said abortion should be allowed only during the first six months of pregnancy. Twenty-four percent moved the abortion limit to the first three months of pregnancy.

The largest percentage — 32% — chose the statement saying abortion should be allowed only in cases of rape, incest or to save the life of the mother.

Fifteen percent chose the fifth option: that abortion should be allowed only to save the life of the mother.

And 13% affirmed that abortion should never be permitted under any circumstance.

The poll also indicated that even among those who describe themselves as pro-choice, 71% favored restricting abortions. Of these, 43% would restrict abortion to the first trimester and 23% would restrict abortion only to cases of rape, incest or to save the life of the mother.

Supreme Knight Carl Anderson said the poll results are “indicative of the fact that the term ‘pro-choice’ — when applied broadly — needlessly polarizes the discussion of abortion and masks the fact that there is broad consensus among Americans that abortion should be significantly restricted.”

The reason I use “pro-abortion” to describe the people I oppose on the issue of abortion is because there is no other way to describe them – I wish to differentiate between fanatics and reasonable people. Reasonable people, as noted in the above article, want various restrictions on abortion from mild to strong – fanatics fight a desperate, rear-guard action to preserve a definition of legal abortion supported by only a tiny minority. There is, in the end, no real argument in favor of abortion being legal after the first trimester even if you want to take the so-called pro-choice movement’s word on what is at stake. Having no argument in favor of abortion on demand, what the pro-abortion people do is try to cast the debate in terms of “either/or” – either you back them, or you’re in favor of raped women dying in back alley abortions. The truth is a lot different.

And the people understand this – and thus we’ve seen in Campaign ’08 a strong implication that the election of McCain means a Supreme Court that will overturn Roe and thus ban abortion…even though there’s no indication that any particular judicial appointee – even of the most pro-life, conservative variety – will result in an overturning of Roe and, of course, the fact that overturning Roe wouldn’t affect the status of legal abortion in any State or local jurisdiction in the United States. The pro-abortion fanatics, meanwhile, are pinning their hopes on Obama who has pledged to sign the misbegotten “Freedom of Choice Act” which would usurp the power of the people to decide on any regulation of abortion whatsoever.

For the battle between the Culture of Life and the culture of death, the stakes are quite high this year – elect McCain, and Life will stride ahead; elect Obama and death will make the running.