This Is Where the American People Stand on Abortion
- Posted on May 23, 2012 at 2:30pm by
Billy Hallowell
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On Wednesday, Gallup released its latest research on abortion and the results show a noteworthy shift in public opinion.
Among the fascinating findings, the proportion of Americans calling themselves pro-choice come in at a record low — a decline that is seen among all three U.S. political groups. As always, the results showcase division on an important social issue that often dominates political discussion, particularly during election years.
In 2011, The Blaze highlighted the fact that 49 percent of the nation called itself pro-choice, with an additional 45 percent claiming that they were pro-life. In 2010, the results were simular, as 45 percent were pro-choice and 47 percent were pro-life. This year, though, some major shifts in public perception appear to be underway.
(Related: This Is Where the American People Stand on Legalizing Gay Marriage)
Gallup published a report that includes an overall graph of the pro-choice and pro-life patterns that the research firm has observed since 1995. After examining the chart, one can see that the numbers have fluctuated quite a bit over time. The report further explains some of the numbers that are observed:
Gallup began asking Americans to define themselves as pro-choice or pro-life on abortion in 1995, and since then, identification with the labels has shifted from a wide lead for the pro-choice position in the mid-1990s, to a generally narrower lead for “pro-choice” — from 1998 through 2008 — to a close division between the two positions since 2009. However, in the last period, Gallup has found the pro-life position significantly ahead on two occasions, once in May 2009 and again today. It remains to be seen whether the pro-life spike found this month proves temporary, as it did in 2009, or is sustained for some period.
The proportions found for Republicans, Democrats and Independents on the pro-choice and pro-life front are equally intriguing. In 2012, 72 percent of GOP adherents call themselves pro-life, up from 68 percent in 2011 and 65 percent in 2010. Democrats, of course, are far more likely to claim that they are pro-choice, with 58 percent selecting this option in 2012. However, this is down from the 68 percent who claimed the same in 2011 (and pro-life sentiment is up among more liberal respondents).
“The percentage of political independents identifying as pro-choice is 10 points lower today than in May 2011, while the percentage pro-life is up by six points,” Gallup reports. “As a result, pro-lifers now outnumber pro-choicers among this important swing political group for only the second time since 2001, with the first occurring in 2009.”
The moral implications associated with abortion seem to be unchanged between 2011 and 2012. This year, 51 percent of Americans claim that abortion is morally wrong, with an additional 38 percent claiming that it is morally acceptable. This is on par with last year’s results.
The results took into account 1,024 random adults, 18 years of age and older. The margin of sampling error fir the study is ±4 percentage points. Read the full report detailing Americans’ abortion views here.
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Comments (146)
lukerw
Posted on May 23, 2012 at 3:17pm@MRSUN…
Report Post »If there is a Sin in a Woman’s Choice… the Sin is upon the Individual… and Not a Collective Issue… nor requiring Fascist Regulation. Liberty is about letting the people be Free… where Water always finds it’s own level.
Gonzo
Posted on May 23, 2012 at 3:15pmYour brain is diseased.
Report Post »Joshua7
Posted on May 23, 2012 at 3:14pmSo unborn children are parasites?
Then explain to me why children are not parasites after they’re born. If a child is left alone post-birth it will starve to death and die. If an unborn child is aborted, it will die. What’s the difference?
Report Post »FromSeaToSea
Posted on May 23, 2012 at 3:12pm“The death of one man is a tragedy. The death of millions is a statistic. ” Joseph Stalin
In 2001=2006 500,000 children were killed by NATO weapons in Iraq yet the American people still accept we are fight for freedom. Exactly whose freedom are we fighting for when we kill 500,000 children?
NATO is vile. The UN is vile. CRF is vile. Yet we allow our Country and elected to hold membership in these.
In 25 years the US will be a communist state, America is sleeping at the wheel electing communist leaders. Obummer is communist. Romney is not much better. Ron Paul, the only choice willing to return our freedoms, is by most peoples estimation a stray dog. The stray dog was the only Constitutional candidate. Stop complaining and accept your prison folks. You are now a slave.
Report Post »lukerw
Posted on May 23, 2012 at 3:11pm@JJW
Look around the World; We are a Predatorial Species… alike our Military… we Kill. We are not Totally Rational, or we would agree upon Everything… rather, we disagree upon everything, but the very obvious. As, a Predator… I was trained to Kill in the Military… where we define Enemies via Threats & Opposition and Kill them.
Your disagreement… simply defines you to be another Predator in the Herd!
Report Post »IMCHRISTIAN
Posted on May 23, 2012 at 3:10pmWould you have rather been aborted if you had a choice? I am glad that God put me here on earth to serve a purpose and that purpose was not to kill but to give hope to those living and want love, peace and freedom. God Bless America.
Report Post »charles116
Posted on May 23, 2012 at 3:30pmGod is a myth.
Report Post »Your whole premise is false from the start.
Granny58
Posted on May 23, 2012 at 3:38pm@Charles116 – a godless creation is a myth.
Report Post »rose-ellen
Posted on May 23, 2012 at 3:43pmWhether God exists or not -it is still wrong to kill an innocent human being.And it goes against the bill of rights.Only brainwashed mallable gulls-afraid of being labeled anti woman-accounts for people buying into an acceptance of abortion. Shows the power of manipulation by the media and the elites.What a horrible shame that people can be brainwashed to go against what they instinctively know is wrong.
Report Post »Just_Us
Posted on May 23, 2012 at 3:45pmcharles116 has just cleared it all up for everyone with his profound statement..let’s shut down the thread and delete all comments…the argument is over….thanks chuck for your deep insight. Not many people could make such a profoundly ignorant statement in so few words. If ignorance is bliss, you must be happy as a kid with a new puppy. I find it ironic that a statement accusing someone of using a false premise is, itself, built on a false premise.
Report Post »mtcountrygrl
Posted on May 23, 2012 at 4:21pm@ Charles116
Report Post »Once upon a time there was nothing, then nothing happened, and no one caused it. Then there was everything. And you mock my beliefs.
medcam
Posted on May 23, 2012 at 4:34pm@Charles116 – A statement of personal belief is considered fact in logical debate. So, it is technically not a false premise.
Report Post »@IMCHRISTIAN – Totally agree with you, life is sacred. I’m glad the trend is heading the pro-life direction!
GenOptimus
Posted on May 23, 2012 at 8:59pm@Charles116 It takes more faith to believe that there isn’t a God then to believe there is. If God’s not real then why do fight him so much, you can‘t resist the influence of someone who isn’t real and it‘s clear to everyone you’re trying to fight God.
Report Post »MCDAVE
Posted on May 23, 2012 at 10:20pm@CHARLES are you posting from inside of a prison or mental institution?
Report Post »This_Individual
Posted on May 24, 2012 at 11:49amChuck, your’re being just as bad as the Baptists who used to knock on my door every weekend & tell me that I’m going to burn in hell for not sending my kids to Church.
Report Post »NHwinter
Posted on May 23, 2012 at 3:08pma fetus is a parasite in a Woman’s body – really? Thats how you look at it! The most beautiful miracle of creating life, that we share with God, and you think its a parasite! I guess the graph and Lukerw show us exactly where the progressives/marxists morals are today. No wonder they are all so angry and unhappy. If you are in line with Satan you most certainly will be extremely unhappy.
Report Post »Lazier Than Thou
Posted on May 23, 2012 at 3:07pmI believe that future generations will look back on abortion as we look back on slavery. It’s so obviously heinous and terrible. Future generations will ask themselves how we could have let this genocide occur all around us.
I feel sorry for any girl who has been raised to believe that such practices are acceptable. Theirs will not be an easy story to answer to God for.
Report Post »girlnurse
Posted on May 23, 2012 at 4:37pmThe same things has been happening since the beginning of time..Satan always perverts and counterfits something good…
The altar of Baal was in the image of a bull with the head and shoulders of a man. Its arms extended outward and fire belched out from a hole in the chest. The priest of Baal placed the babies on the outstretched arms, where the child would be rolled into the fire. As the child died, the priest and priestess engaged in sexual intercourse, while an orgy occurred among the onlookers.
Recently, archaeologists unearthed a Baal cemetery containing the remains of more than twenty thousand children. The Greek author Kleitarchos described the practice of sacrificing infants to Baal three hundred years before Christ:
Babies are being sacrificed day in and day out in this country…all in the name of free sex-pleasure and convienence…we just do it in secret now…behind closed doors.
Today’s BAAL worshipers….Good article
Report Post »http://www.wnd.com/2008/12/83960/
FoxholeAtheist
Posted on May 24, 2012 at 5:01pmGirlnurse:
Judges 11:29-40. “Whatever comes out of the door of my house to meet me when I return in triumph from the Ammonites will be the Lord’s, and I will sacrifice it as a burnt offering”. Of course, the Bible clearly states she died a virgin. That part was important.
What a loving god you worship. I wonder, do you care about the unwanted ‘miracles’ and unwed mothers who end up on welfare? Are you for the use of condoms and birth control and sex education in public schools when the parents won’t step in to educate their own children? What about inexpensive health care to them? Or are you one of these who only cares about the unborn and they’re on their own to pull themselves up by their bootstraps once they are born? Do you see them as a burden on society raking in your tax dollars in the form of food stamp entitlements?
How about that little 9 year old girl who was excommunicated from the Catholic church for having a lifesaving abortion while totally ignoring the root of the problem, her stepfather? Reason bein that every life is sacred so how dare she worry about the sanctity of her own very young life.
I think you, girl, might be a bit of a hypocrite.
Report Post »polijunkie100
Posted on May 29, 2012 at 7:37amPerhaps we could approach this from another angle. Has anyone ever considered the sheer waste of human potential from all those millions of abortions. I’m not sure exactly what the statistical occurrance of exceptional people is in the general population, but it should be roughly the same for the aborted. Imagine all the contributions those exceptional people might have made.
Report Post »Therightsofbilly
Posted on May 23, 2012 at 3:05pm@LUKERW
Where do you stand on the laws that charge someone with the death of a pregnant woman’s child?
Is it a life only if the mother want’s it to be thought of that way?
But it can then be a “parasite” if she changes her mind?
When does the baby actually obtain it’s right to life?…….. when it completely exits the birth canal?……..or when the cord is actually completely severed all the way through?
Report Post »dirtypolitics
Posted on May 23, 2012 at 3:03pmVery soon before our very eyes our Pres Obama will evolved into the first Anti Abortion President.
Wait for it, wait for it, wait for it.
Report Post »nobull14
Posted on May 23, 2012 at 3:02pmAnyone that could go and kill a unborn child is looking for a front row seat in HELL !!!!!!!!
Report Post »This_Individual
Posted on May 24, 2012 at 11:54amThat may be, but let’s leave that up to the individual (just in case the fetus would either kill the mother, or it wouldn’t survive outside the womb).
Report Post »MrSunshine
Posted on May 23, 2012 at 3:02pmHow about the “parasite’s” body? You pro choice dumbells fail to remebr that the “parasite” is given no “choice” and the “parasite’s” host body made the CHOICE to open her legs in the first place. The “choice” you speak of is the choice to commit murder or not commit murder. Choose wisely.
Report Post »RANGER1965
Posted on May 23, 2012 at 2:59pmIt’s easy to be pro-choice when the reality of abortion stays hidden. Back in the 90′s no one talked about it, or challenged it much; including churches.
There were a few churches that took a stand; but for the most part they were labelled as kooks, and fringe elements.
Now the American Christian Church is beginning to stand up, and the Right to Life movement has become mainstream enough that politicians began to take sides, both locally, and in Washington.
Advancing technology has also supported the Right to Life Crowd. 3 dimensional pictures of vulnerable, and beautiful babies in the womb. Proof that babies in the womb feel pain.
All this stuff slowly but surely, entered the consciousness of the typical American and we have seen the continual erosion of abortion support.
Evil always looks and sounds good when it is kept hidden, and in the dark. Only when you see it fully exposed in the light do you see it’s true nature.
Report Post »charles116
Posted on May 23, 2012 at 3:31pmWhat about NON Christians?
Report Post »Where are THEIR rights?
The unborn DO NOT HAVE RIGHTS.
RANGER1965
Posted on May 23, 2012 at 4:11pmCharles 116′s response is the typical uniformed drivel that comes from the left. In his zeal to continue prosecuting his war on women and the unborn, he reveals his true self.
Thankfully the numbers of people like Charles who are uninformed, and have no critical thinking skills is on the decline. We are seeing more people who really think about these issues, weigh the evidence, and make their decisions based on empirical fact, rather than parrot some group’s talking points.
Report Post »huey6367
Posted on May 23, 2012 at 2:59pmIt may sound dumb on my part but I really can‘t understand why people don’t understand the anti-abortion stance. We are the only living thing in the world that has the ability to kill its offspring before it is born. Therefore, in my opinion, abortion is unnatural and therefore wrong.
It’s as simple as that.
On a different but similar note, God gave us the ability to think and we still haven’t quite figured out how to do that.
Report Post »flipper1073
Posted on May 23, 2012 at 8:26pm@ HUEY6367
Report Post »As to your last sentence
CHARLES116 Doesn’t have the ability to Think
He only Parrots the Liberal Talking Points.
Many people on here can Think an Converse
an Even Disagree Without being Obnoxious.
pap pap
Posted on May 23, 2012 at 2:58pmNice to see things moving in the right direction. No pun intended.
Report Post »CatB
Posted on May 23, 2012 at 3:24pmAmen!
Report Post »CS_GUY
Posted on May 23, 2012 at 2:57pmBorderline unintelligable……………and bias.
Report Post »f_the_commies
Posted on May 23, 2012 at 2:55pmIt‘s amazing that Americans can still justify slaughtering unborn children and I can’t fathom how we allow this to continue. It is wrong it is wrong it is wrong. I challenge anyone to research how abortion will tie into obamacare and see that this is the fight of the century. The democraps want this in order to kill off the “burden children” in society. They are actually drawing up plans to justify post-pardom abortions as well because it’s “safer” on the mother.
It’s f$@cking disgusting
Report Post »JosephHarris
Posted on May 23, 2012 at 9:36pmHow about your wife and daughter get a home invasion from “tha brothas” and they end up pregnant carrying the seed of some low life c00n. Maybe you can tack on an STD to this miracle of life, we at least you can give it the gift of life right? The lord works in mysterious ways I guess.
Report Post »JJW
Posted on May 23, 2012 at 2:52pmAnd who else do you want to murder?
Report Post »Gonzo
Posted on May 23, 2012 at 2:51pmIt‘s a shame you can’t poll the unborn. That would push the pro life numbers up substantially.
Report Post »charles116
Posted on May 23, 2012 at 3:32pmWhat a silly post.
Report Post »Why not poll feces?
Joshua7
Posted on May 23, 2012 at 3:41pmNo kidding! You make an excellent point.
The unborn are not able to speak. When means their mothers have a responsibility to speak for them. But their own mothers refuse to do that, then the responsibility falls on our shoulders.
Report Post »Balpit
Posted on May 23, 2012 at 4:43pm“Why not poll feces?”
Because, unlike a fetus or embryo, there’s no life in feces.
Report Post »You really think feces is alive? LOL!
RJJinGadsden
Posted on May 24, 2012 at 7:11amGONZO, Why not pole CHARLESINCHARGE116? I certainly wouldn’t object.
Report Post »JJW
Posted on May 23, 2012 at 2:49pmI believe people are starting to wise up. Life starts at conception. It hasn’t been that long that some people thought Indians, Negros and more recently Jews were not quite human. Perhaps there is true hope for this country yet.
Report Post »jungle J
Posted on May 23, 2012 at 2:48pmAnyone that would kill a child born or unborn will kll you for your cheerios.
Report Post »CS_GUY
Posted on May 23, 2012 at 2:56pmGreat point…………no remorse.
Report Post »MiCurmudgeon
Posted on May 23, 2012 at 2:48pmAs an Independent, I would only favor abortions if they could be retroactive for most the members of Congress , the Administration and Federal Government employees.
Report Post »AvengerK
Posted on May 23, 2012 at 2:47pmAnd the hits just keep on coming for the American left….
Report Post »Therightsofbilly
Posted on May 23, 2012 at 2:54pmAnd it’s good to see, isn’t it? There is hope, for a change.
Poor JZS, and the rest of the cadre, I feel kinda bad for them…….not.
Report Post »AvengerK
Posted on May 23, 2012 at 3:30pmRIGHTSOFBILLY…I have as much pity for JZS and the rest of the lefty SS Minnow here at the Blaze, as they have for all the babies the left has sacrificed at the altar of “progressivism”.
Report Post »These numbers don’t surprise me by the way. Most people have a threshhold for lefty lunacy and when it’s reached, they spring back to the center or the right.
Mutiny
Posted on May 23, 2012 at 2:45pmThis is why Romney has a pro life stance. His voter based demanded it.
Report Post »Ars21689
Posted on May 23, 2012 at 3:09pmIf you’re going to try to be cute, you may want to spell and grammer check your comment. Facetious comments with spelling errors come across as being written by a petulant child
Report Post »Mutiny
Posted on May 23, 2012 at 5:00pmSo you think Romney just changed his mind on killing infants in the womb? Dont be that dumb.
To really get an idea on Romney’s real views on abortion click the links and learn.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lNDsyKnQIes
This one he talks about being pro choice since his mom ran for office in 1970.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vAqSWoBGBTM&feature=related
Report Post »This one Romney he admits that from a “political perspective” he believes life begins at conception. So what does he think from a non political perspective. Basically he just admits what I said about him. So this video alone proves I was correct in my statement and you are either a moron, progressive, or both.
MittensKittens
Posted on May 23, 2012 at 2:39pmWell at least that’s some good news, now if we can bring prayer back to schools, keep marriage between a man and woman, and throw Obuma out on his a$$ this would end up as a pretty good day!
Report Post »Sirfoldallot
Posted on May 23, 2012 at 2:44pmSad we now have 2 undo the wrong, hope we can as a country stay in Gods graces.
Report Post »RightUnite
Posted on May 23, 2012 at 2:48pmThat would indeed be sweeeet!
Report Post »charles116
Posted on May 23, 2012 at 3:36pmYou folks love to wrap yourselves in the Constitution -
except for the parts you don’t like, like SEPARATION OF CHURCH & STATE
What is it you don’t understand?
Report Post »Just_Us
Posted on May 23, 2012 at 4:01pmCharles, could you please tell me where what paragraph separation of church and state appears? I’ll wait…….
Report Post »Balpit
Posted on May 23, 2012 at 4:57pmSeparation of church and state, huh?
To you, its meaning is clear: the church CANNOT impose itself onto the state.
But, does it go the other way? You know, that the state can’t impose itself on the church (like forcing churches to honor gay marriages when civil unions are a valid, secular alternative)?
Report Post »flipper1073
Posted on May 23, 2012 at 7:09pmMITTENSKITTENS
Great post you made my day !
CHARLES
Separation of Church an State is not in the Constitution.
However Freedom of Religion
not Freedom from Religion is in the first Amendment.
By the way CHARLES
Report Post »are you Debbie Whatshername Schultz ?
because you have the Dem’s Talking points Down Pat.