Many people believe that abortion will be illegal should the Supreme Court overturn Roe v Wade. No, that is not what will happen. Abortion will still be legal. The matter will simply return to the states where voters can regulate abortion via their state legislators.
Interestingly, 79% of all voters DO want abortion regulated in some manner, according to a recent poll by Pew Research. You won’t hear the mainstream media or liberal politicians acknowledge that, though. Rather, they use fear tactics that suggest Republicans and conservative judges want to ban contraception (false); make therapeutic ectopic pregnancy treatments illegal (false); and ban interracial marriage (comically false).
The last fear-mongering tactic is especially amusing in light of the interracial marriage between originalist justice Clarence Thomas and his wife, Virginia.
Poll results depend upon how the question is asked
Polling results vary wildly depending on how the question is asked. In fact, the National Review’s David Harsanyi wrote a piece today headlined, “Abortion Polls Are Garbage.” Here are the types of questions that are never asked, he writes:
- Do you support the Democratic Party effort to legalize abortion through all nine months of pregnancy on demand for any reason in all 50 states?
- Do you support the Democrats’ efforts to prohibit states from passing laws that forbid abortions after viability?
- Do you support the Democrats’ efforts to prohibit states from passing laws against sex-selective abortions?
- Do you support the Democrats’ efforts to overturn existing laws that require parental or guardian notification for minors?
- Do you agree with Democrats that non-doctors should be given the right to perform abortions through all nine months of pregnancy?
- Do you agree with the Democratic Party’s efforts to strip medical workers of conscience rights and compel them to participate in abortion procedures or lose their jobs?
- Democrats, including Joe Biden, want to eliminate the Hyde Amendment so that the federal government can fund abortions through nine months with taxpayer dollars. Do you agree?
- Do you agree with the Biden administration that more abortions are vital in keeping down the poor population, increasing labor-force participation, and helping the economy?
- A few years back, Republicans in Congress attempted to pass a 20-week limit on abortion. Do you think such a limit is reasonable?
- In Florida and Mississippi, Republican governors have signed laws limiting legal abortion to the first 15 weeks of pregnancy. Would you support similar limits in your state?
This kind of data would be revealing
And yet, data from polling of this nature would be instructive to a sincere national dialogue on abortion. Harsanyi points out that each of these questions flesh out how out-of-touch the Democrat’s ‘Women’s Health Protection Act’ would be with the public once they understood what it would really do.
As we wrote in a previous blogpost, a Marist Poll commissioned by the pro-life Knights of Columbus revealed that 61% of rank and file Democrats are in favor of significant restrictions on abortion.
For example:
- 29% want abortion restricted to the first three months of a pregnancy.
- 19% only want abortion used in cases of rape, incest, or to save the life of the mother.
- 9% only want it used if it is necessary to save the life of the mother.
- 4% of Democrats believe it should never be permitted under any circumstances.
The Women’s Health Protection Act has nothing to do with women’s health. It is a radical bill that would prevent the kind of abortion regulations Democrat voters really desire. Thankfully, it once again failed to pass yesterday with every Republican voting against it, along with Democrat Joe Manchin.
If in fact Roe falls, states will once again be empowered to implement regulation on abortion based on the wishes of their voters rather than unelected judges.
[Pulse Life Advocates is working on its next video project, “How to Raise Pro-Life Children.” Help us fund this exciting project with your gift today.]
