This report offers information of interest in the on-going debate about abortion in this pre-election season:
NEW HAVEN, Connecticut, OCT. 14, 2008 (Zenit.org).- A U.S. nationwide poll shows that almost all Americans think abortion should be restricted.-ConcordPastor
The poll was conducted for the Knights of Columbus by the Marist College Institute of Public Opinion between Sept. 24 and Oct. 3. It aimed to enable comparisons of the views of Catholic voters with those of the general electorate. The poll asked respondents to state which of six statements came closest to describing their opinion on abortion.
Only 8% of U.S. residents chose the statement saying abortion should be available to a woman any time she wants during her entire pregnancy.
That same percentage said abortion should be allowed only during the first six months of pregnancy.
Twenty-four percent moved the abortion limit to the first three months of pregnancy.
The largest percentage -- 32% -- chose the statement saying abortion should be allowed only in cases of rape, incest or to save the life of the mother.
Fifteen percent chose the fifth option: that abortion should be allowed only to save the life of the mother.
And 13% affirmed that abortion should never be permitted under any circumstance.
The poll also indicated that even among those who describe themselves as pro-choice, 71% favored restricting abortions. Of these, 43% would restrict abortion to the first trimester and 23% would restrict abortion only to cases of rape, incest or to save the life of the mother...
I'm glad to hear that and am not surprised by those findings. Occam's razor? Maybe.
ReplyDeleteI would venture to guess that the 71% that describe themselves as pro-choice do so because there is no catagory for "restricted choice."
I've always been skeptical of these surveys results...who is asking the question? Interpreting the survey results?
Are they distorting the results of the poll for their own benefit?
Is the sample of people surveyed a "haphazard" sample or a variant of a "probability" sample?
Asking someone for a yes or no answer to whether they are pro-choice or not is absurd. That's no benchmark!
That's similar to being on a witness stand and the defense attorney asking for ONLY a yes or no answer - when in reality the real answer is "Yes -but..." or "No-but..."
ROB
The Marist Survey comes from a Catholic institution but it's work is not restricted to faith issues nor do I think their work is biased towards hoped-for conclusions.
ReplyDeleteThey've not yet posted the actual report on their site and I'll be interested in reading it. I don't think this was a yes-no deal - folks were asked to respond to six different statements about abortion to get at different sides of the issue.
Thank you so much for posting this.
ReplyDeleteAs Anonymous indicated, maybe there are a lot of people who can't clearly say "pro-choice" or "pro-life" because each designation carries things that do not suit all.
Oh that pesky dualism again. I am not meaning to be funny on a serious matter, but it is ironic, no?
Sadly I find that many Catholics are really uninformed about the depth of issues around "life" - most specifically in regard to the unborn.
You may recall that I came from this from the opposite direction.
When I engage people in respectful conversation, I often find that their reply is that they are against abortion... because the Church says so.
One of the things I love about our Catholic Christian tradition is the great legacy of thought and dialog. While tethered always to the anchor of the Magisterium, it should be remembered that all wisdom comes through knowledge.
If you are going to be for or against something it should be from deeply within one's heart, no matter what the issue.
Perhaps because I was not clear about how I felt when I returned to church, I had to really confront, pray, discuss, discern and find my way. That is not any sort of superiority- just gratitude for a church big enough and wise enough at its core, for that to happen.
Thanks again- really good stuff here.
well said Fran
ReplyDelete