Abortion Should Be Legal, But...
May 22, 2009 | By Jack Yoest
If any statement has the conjunctive 'but' in the middle -- what follows the 'but' is more important than what precedes the 'but.'
Most Americans are not a yes or no on abortion but -- but! on a continuum.
Nancy Gibbs at Time magazine notes this challenge; the simple bogus binary choice,
Are you Pro-Life or Pro-Choice?
And suggests more nuance is needed.
So Americans United for Life is giving Time news some nuance, a Plan B, so to say: To get from Binary to But.
Charmaine first noticed this when she saw the Gallup Poll showing that 51percent of Americans are self-identified Pro-Life. But, but, when she drilled down thru the numbers the cross tabs didn't change.
In 1975 abortion:
22 percent illegal in all cases
21 percent legal in all cases
54 percent legal under certain conditions
In 2009 abortion:
22 percent illegal in all cases
23 percent legal in all cases
53 percent legal under certain conditions
The numbers really haven't changed.
In 1995 Gallup added another question, "With respect to the abortion issue, would you consider yourself to be pro-choice or pro-life?"
(The Alert Reader will notice the order in the choices...)
In 1995 only 33 percent of Americans self-identified as Pro-Life.Today in 2009, 51 percent are Pro-Life.
But, but, this was the only number that really changed.
51 percent are Pro-Life, but, but, 76 percent want abortion legal under some circumstances.
Your Business Blogger(R) had to take graduate statistics twice to earn a Gentleman's C B, so even this numbers novice can see that there is some over lap of Americans who are both Pro-Life but, but want abortion legal.
Obama might be confused when life begins in the womb. But he has company in his confusion: most Americans are confused when/if/why it ends in the womb -- We are Pro-Life but, but Abortion should be legal.
Would it be true, as one political wag winced, The masses are @sses?
No, but.
But we are nuanced.
Charmaine Yoest, with her doctorate in political science from Mr. Jefferson's University, commissioned a scientific poll to get to the nuanced granularity of the American Public.
Her findings as president and CEO of Americans United for Life did not surprise her. And, indeed, confirmed sub-trends that now have a majority of Americans as Pro-Life.
Americans have always wanted commonsense oversight of abortion.
So let's combine a premise and an outcome, a but not binary statement, to give Time's Nancy Gibbs the nuance we all need. Here's what Charmaine's poll found,
Gallup: Abortion should be legal.
Most Americans, Abortion should be legal, but...
Americans United for Life: Abortion is legal but...
...Not in the third trimester....Not with my tax dollars.
...I won't pay for them overseas.
...I better know if my daughter is having one.
...Law makers should make abortion law, not judges.
...There must be some restrictions.
Americans overwhelmingly want some restrictions on abortion. They will oppose any Judicial nominee who will legislate from the bench lifting any regulation to codify Abortion on Demand.
Obama will suffer a severe loss in power and popularity if he nominates a judge who will permit the removal of commonsense regulation of abortion. A judge who advocates FOCA by stealth will have a real battle on her hands.
And as the pro-choice activists say, Pro-Lifers take no prisoners.
For over forty years, Americans United for Life has been working on incremental changes in law, state-by-state to protect women's health and well being.
And to collaterally save a few children.
Join Fight FOCA
Thank you (foot)notes:
Oklahoma recently passed legislation forbidding sex-selection abortion. India and China routinely abort first-born baby girls. (I married a first-born girl -- I've got one too. They are really quite useful...) The citizens of Oklahoma don't think this is a good idea and passes a commonsense law. Planned Parenthood is not happy and supports abortion on demand for any reason. The Supreme Court of the United States will overturn this law if Obama gets a radical on the court. Full Disclosure: AUL assisted in the legal crafting of this bill. See LifeNews.
From The Washington Post, Nancy Northup, president of The Center for Reproductive Rights, called the [AUL] campaign "a relentless anti-choice attack that is consistent with what their strategy has always been: to take no prisoners.''
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