Pro-Life Leader Says Most Americans Still Opposed to Roe v. Wade Despite New Poll
Two-thirds of all Americans believe that the 1973 Supreme Court ruling that made abortion legal throughout the nation should not be overturned, according to a recent poll conducted earlier this month by Knowledge Networks and released by The Associated Press and Yahoo.
According to the results, a full 66 percent of respondents indicated they "would like to see Roe vs. Wade remain in force."
One of the nation's leading pro-life advocates, however, has claimed that the results are inaccurate and misleading, and betray the fact that most Americans are still opposed to most if not all forms of abortion.
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"How can we expect Americans to tell us whether they want Roe vs. Wade reversed when we evade critical details of what Roe vs. Wade says?" asked Fr. Frank Pavone of Priests for Life, the nation's largest Catholic pro-life organization, in a statement.
While recent polls may indicate that Americans are generally opposed to the outright abolition of Roe v. Wade, other polls reveal that a majority of Americans believe that certain types of abortions – many of which are covered under Roe v. Wade – are wrong, unjust, and should be abolished.
According to an ABC news poll conducted on the 30th anniversary of the Roe v. Wade decision, while many Americans believed abortion should be "legal in all or most cases," or "in some or all cases," strong majorities of Americans also indicated they were opposed to partial birth abortions or abortion of pregnancies over 6 months in duration.
"Consistent with a long tradition of polling questions on Roe, this month's poll question hides the fact that Roe permits abortion throughout all nine months of pregnancy. A majority of Americans have never agreed with such an extreme policy," Pavone noted.
According to the Guttmacher Institute, there were an estimated 1.2 million abortions throughout the United States last year.
Every year, about two out of every 100 women aged 15–44 have an abortion.
