Rise in Americans supporting violence to reestablish “right to abortion”, University of Chicago poll shows

By SPUC—the Society for the Protection of Unborn Children

A poll from the University of Chicago has reported a worrying rise in support for pro-abortion violence since the repeal of Roe v. Wade in the United States in 2022.

The University of Chicago’s Project on Security and Threats found that, in June 2023, 12% of surveyed Americans agreed with the statement, “The use of force is justified to restore the federal right to abortion.”

Six months earlier, in January 2023, 8% of Americans agreed with the same statement.

The increase in favour of violence to restore a federal right to abortion was most pronounced among Democrats, the political affiliation most supportive of abortion generally, with 8% of Democrats favouring violence in January this year, rising to 16% by June.

A wave of violence directed at pro-life groups swept across the US in 2022 after the Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade, the infamous ruling that established a federal right to abortion across the nation.

Another study recently found that US pro-lifers suffered 22 times more attacks than pro-abortion individuals and groups between May 3 and September 24, 2022.

In August 2022, SPUC reported that 69 Catholic churches had been attacked in the US by pro-abortion activists.

At the same time, the militant group Jane’s Revenge declared “open season” on pro-life pregnancy centres, also stating that it would “find joy” in attacking pro-lifers.

A SPUC spokesperson said: “This poll confirms the shocking rise in attacks directed against people and groups seeking to protect unborn children. The willingness of pro-abortion persons to turn to violence to advance the similarly violent act of abortion is disturbing but also not surprising.

“People’s actions mirror their beliefs. While the pro-life movement, founded on love and protecting life, is peaceful, pro-abortion militancy is necessarily destructive, reveling more and more in violence, not only as a means to an end but the end itself.”