No matter who does abortion polling, it’s clear that the Democratic Party platform and their agenda of abortion through all nine months, for any reason at all and with taxpayer funding, is a loser with most Americans. Given all the recent stories claiming that Democrats are rising in the polls because of their support for abortion, a fact check is needed. The math contradicts today’s popular narrative because Americans don’t want the radical abortion agenda pushed by Joe Biden, Nancy Pelosi, and Chuck Schumer.
Case in point: A Harvard Harris poll in June of this year found that not only did voters have tremendous concerns about the economy, Biden’s overall performance and mental health, and runaway inflation, only 10% supported allowing abortion through all nine months, which mirrors other findings. An NPR/PBS Newshour/Marist poll in May found that almost seven in 10 Americans support limits on abortion.
Maybe that’s why the deceptively named “Women’s Health Protection Act” failed repeatedly in Congress, as it went even further than Roe in demanding limitless abortion and an end to the conscience rights of anyone who didn’t want to participate. Maybe that’s why the popular President Obama did not do more while he was in office.
It’s interesting that when GOP Sens. Susan Collins and Lisa Murkowski tried to get an abortion bill compromise, their efforts were met with derision by House Speaker Nancy Pelosi. “We’re not going to negotiate a woman’s right to choose,” she told reporters.
Choose what exactly? Even President Biden can’t seem to make himself advocate for abortion directly, as he demands more of that-which-cannot-be-named.
It’s noteworthy that while Planned Parenthood President Alexis McGill Johnson proclaims that “abortion is actually going to save democracy,” politicians like Ohio Democrat Tim Ryan are stunned into silence when pressed on what – if any – abortion restrictions he might support. Maybe he’s read the polling yet doesn’t want to contradict a cacophony of abortion lovers bound to clutter up his social media if he doesn’t toe the line. Maybe he’s heard from voters in his state.
Earlier this year, Students for Life’s Demetree Institute for Pro-Life Advancement, an organization that regularly polls what is now one-third of the electorate (Millennials and Gen Z), found that “an astonishing eight in 10 wanted to vote on abortion policy in their states – up from 66% last year,” and three out of four Millennials wanted limits on abortion. Asked about Roe’s radical reach to all nine months, almost six in 10 rejected it.
In drilling down into the fine print of Roe and what it allowed, Students for Life found an immediate 10% shift from young people saying they supported Roe, to opposing it, after learning how abortion policy really works. We found “67% oppose sex selection abortion; 60% were concerned about the disproportionate number of minority lives lost; 58% opposed abortion through all nine months, which Roe permitted; and 55% opposed taxpayers funding abortion or underwriting abortion vendor costs.”
It’s in those details that a strong case is made for life. With Roe gone, it’s a teaching moment for the nation as we explain to new audiences why we reject prejudice against children based on their race, age, sex, perception of their abilities, or because of a parent’s crimes. We must educate on how a caring society can help, through events like Standing with Her Sunday.
Normally, when a political party’s agenda is rejected by 90% of the American people, their political opponents know they can safely express an opinion. Unless the issue is abortion, a winning issue for those who know how to talk about it, so why not make a strong case? If you run from a bully, they will chase you, including in the media or in a debate.
Some will point to the recent ballot initiative in Kansas and the loss of a House race in New York to argue that life is losing momentum. In both cases, an outspoken abortion lobby went all in for abortion, while the more pro-life side presented mixed or missing messages. The takeaway is that if pro-life champions don’t define their viewpoint, the other side will.
Consistently, abortion has been a motivator for pro-life voters, and it will be again.
Democrats had to find some issue to offset the elephant in the room, and that doesn’t mean Republicans. With the record of Biden’s decimated economy, failed withdrawal from Afghanistan, and on-going educational chaos over COVID, to name just a few issues, Democratic party leadership was looking for a lifeline and grabbed death by abortion.
What a dark legacy.
In this election cycle, abortion cannot be ignored. A huge chasm exists between a billion-dollar industry that insists women can’t succeed unless their child is gone, and another committed community that tells mothers they’re not alone and help is available. The pro-life perspective thrives in the fine print of defending life in specific laws and in creating assistance in specific programs.
Some of those details will be worked out in the legislative process, which is actually democratic, despite the wishes of HHS Secretary Xavier Becerra and Attorney General Merrick Garland who threaten to sue those who value babies in the womb more than they do.
Corporate Abortion will make its case, and pro-life Americans must make theirs. But hope and a future is a stronger message for everyone prepared to make it.
