New Web Site Tests Americans’ Knowledge on Roe v. Wade Abortion Case 
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by Steven Ertelt
LifeNews.com Editor
December 4, 2007
Washington, DC (LifeNews.com) — As the thirty-fifth anniversary of the Supreme Court’s decision to allow unlimited abortions approaches, a coalition of pro-life groups have unveiled a new web site testing Americans’ knowledge of the landmark case. They hope the site will dispel myths in the mainstream media that the case allowed only first-trimester abortions.
Focus on the Family, the Family Research Council, Concerned Women for America, and the Alliance Defense Fund law firm are behind the web site.
With RoeIQ, the groups hope to help move public opinion closer towards overturning Roe v. Wade and its companion case Doe v. Bolton that, together, made abortion on demand a reality.
"The pro-abortion mantra is that the public supports Roe," Michael Johnson, ADF’s senior legal counsel told WorldNetDaily about the web site. "That presumption is on shaky ground."
RoeIQ asks respondents questions such as when abortions are allowed under the cases, whether abortion would become illegal if Roe is reversed, how many abortions occur annually and whether parents can be involved in their teenage daughter’s abortion decision.
The groups talk more about the site on its web page.
"In spite of its impact, true understanding of Roe and what it accomplished remains relatively vague in the public consciousness," they say.
"We can expect both sides in the abortion debate to ratchet up arguments in the coming months as we mark this anniversary. It is imperative that we, as citizens, understand the facts about what Roe does and does not do," they added.
Carrie Gordon Earll of Focus on the Family told WND that a poll conducted in May found that Americans are more likely to support overturning Roe when they know the specifics about the Supreme Court case.
"What this survey found was that when people know what Roe does, their support for overturning it increases, and their opposition to overturning it decreases," she said.
As LifeNews.com reported, the highly respected national public-affairs research firm Ayres, McHenry & Associates conducted a survey finding that when the breadth of the decision is explained Americans are more likely to favor overturning it.
The survey first asked Americans a generic question about whether they wanted Roe overturned and found the public opposes that by a 55 to 34 percent margin.
The percentage changes to just 48 to 43 against overturning Roe — almost within the margin of error — when they get more information about what it does and doesn’t do. It represents a huge shift of 16 percentage points in terms of the public attitude on the case.
RoeIQ is important because, as recently as early November, polls have asked respondents biased questions about the case.
A new Harris Poll claims a majority of Americans favor the Roe v. Wade decision that allowed virtually unlimited abortions nationwide. However, the poll’s question erroneously told respondents on three occasions that Roe only allowed abortions up to three months into the pregnancy.
