Most pro-choice Americans oppose late term abortion: poll

By Michael Gryboski, Mainline Church Editor Wednesday, February 13, 2019

Around two-thirds of Americans who identify as “pro-choice” oppose third trimester abortions, according to a newly released poll by YouGov and the pro-life group Americans United for Life.

Last month, New York state garnered national headlines when Gov. Andrew Cuomo signed a bill into law that effectively allows for abortions for any reason up until the moment of birth.

Soon after, from Feb. 6-7, YouGov and AUL conducted a national survey of 1,145 American adults, 53.1 percent of whom identified as pro-choice. The margin of error was not included in the report. 

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According to an AUL announcement released Tuesday, the survey found that 68 percent of pro-choice Americans oppose abortion on the day before a baby is born, 66 percent oppose abortion in the third trimester, and 77 percent oppose ending medical care for a viable baby.

AUL President Catherine Glenn Foster said in a statement in response to the survey's findings that she believed they showed “the American people’s common-sense appreciation for the sanctity of life and the widespread horror, even among self-identified pro-choice Americans, of new laws like New York’s.”

“Planned Parenthood and elected officials like Governor Cuomo who support abortions up to the point of birth are out of step with not only their supposed core constituents … but also our country’s essential tenets of life, liberty, and the opportunity to pursue happiness,” Foster said Tuesday.

“It is our hope that the critical information brought to light here will advance the democratic process by inspiring more Americans to hold their representatives and public institutions to account.”

In January, Cuomo signed the Reproductive Health Act soon after state legislators passed the bill on the 46th anniversary of the 1973 United States Supreme Court ruling Roe v. Wade.

Similar legislation is being seriously consider in other states.

In Rhode Island, a state legislator introduced the Reproductive Health Care Act, with Gov. Gina Raimondo having expressed support for the bill should it come to her desk.

In Vermont, more than 90 members of the General Assembly have opted to co-sponsor H. 57, which seeks to codify state law allowing for abortions at all stages of pregnancy.

Last month, the Students for Life of America's Institute for Pro-Life Advancement released a poll that found strong support among millennial-aged Americans for restrictions on abortion access.

The institute’s January poll was conducted by the polling company inc./WomanTrend with a sample space of 400 respondents and a margin of error of 4.9 percent.

According to the institute’s January report, 70 percent of millennial respondents supported limits on abortion. This included 42 percent opposing abortion “broadly” and 28 percent supporting specific policies like parental notification and limiting abortion later in pregnancy.