New Poll Shows More Americans Back Pro-Life Movement on Abortion

National   |   Steven Ertelt   |   Nov 1, 2006   |   9:00AM   |   WASHINGTON, DC

New Poll Shows More Americans Back Pro-Life Movement on Abortion Email this article
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by Steven Ertelt
LifeNews.com Editor
November 1
, 2006

Washington, DC (LifeNews.com) — A new poll sponsored by Newsweek finds more people back the pro-life movement when it comes to the issue of the abortion. The number of pro-life Americans rose 5 percent while the number of Americans who support abortion fell four percent.

Conducted by Princeton Survey Research Associates, the poll asks the following question, which pro-life advocates say is biased against the pro-life side:

"Which side of the political debate on the abortion issue do you sympathize with more: the right-to-life movement that believes abortion is the taking of human life and should be outlawed; or the pro-choice movement that believes a woman has the right to choose what happens to her body, including deciding to have an abortion?

According to the Newsweek poll, 53 percent of the public backs the pro-abortion side while 39 percent back the pro-life side.

That’s an increase from November 2005 when the split was 57-34 percent in favor of the pro-abortion side.

However, the polls wording is biased and its results differ significantly from most opinion surveys on abortion issues.

The polling question makes the pro-life side appear to only ban abortions in all instances without any exceptions such as protecting the life of the mother. With most pro-life Americans opposing virtually all abortions, except those in cases of rape and incest, the question fails to include them as well.

The Newsweek survey differs greatly from a CBS News poll conducted in January showing 55 percent of Americans took a pro-life position on abortion.

Some 33 percent said abortions should only be "permitted only in cases such as rape, incest and to save the woman’s life," 17 percent said they would limit abortion only to cases where a woman’s life is in danger and 5 percent said abortions should never be permitted.

Just 42 percent in the CBS News poll indicated they support legalized abortion.

A march Zogby poll also found that Americans support limits on abortion by wide margins.

It showed 69 percent of voters agree with prohibiting federal taxpayer funds from being used to pay for abortions, 69 percent support parental notification for girls 16 or younger and by a 55 percent for girls 18 and younger.

Zogby found 56 percent of Americans back a 24-hour waiting period on abortion, 64 percent would charge criminals with a second crime for killing or injuring an unborn child in the course of an attack on a pregnant woman, and 69 percent don’t want their tax money to pay for abortions or promoting abortion in other nations.

The new Newsweek poll featured telephone interviews with 1,002 American adults, conducted on Oct. 26 and Oct. 27, 2006. The margin of error is four percent.