By Dave Andrusko
Editor’s note. My wife and I will be gone on vacation this week. I’m putting up 5 or 6 previously run stories each day and maybe one or two new stories.
See you in a week.
Dave Andrusko, Editor, National Right to Life News Today
This originally appeared in the October 2022 issue of National Right to Life News.
A poll taken by McLaughlin & Associates of 1,000 general election voters demonstrates again that if asked specific questions, there is often more support for the pro-life candidate than for the pro-abortion candidate—the “pro-life increment.” The poll shows how important it is that pro-abortion position of unlimited abortion be accurately described.
McLaughlin & Associates outlined three scenarios in the nationwide survey which was taken September 16 through September 22.
In each scenario, the question that was posed began with “Which of the following candidates would you be more likely to vote for in the General Election for U.S. Congress?”
In the first scenario
“Candidate A, who believes abortion takes the life of an unborn child and opposes abortion except to save the life of the mother. Candidate A also opposes using tax dollars to pay for abortion and says Candidate B’s support for unlimited abortion paid for with tax dollars, even as a method of birth control and even late in pregnancy, is too extreme.”
Or
“Candidate B, who believes a woman has the right to have an abortion at any time with no restrictions and says the decision should be left to the woman. Candidate B supports using tax dollars to pay for abortion and says candidate A’s position of opposing abortion even in the case of rape and incest is too extreme and dangerous to women.”
In this first scenario Candidate A—who is against abortion—received 45.2% of the voters. Candidate B—who supports abortion – received 47.0% of the vote.
Scenario Two:
“Candidate A, who believes abortion takes the life of an unborn child and opposes abortion except to save the life of the mother and in cases of rape or incest. Candidate A also opposes using tax dollars to pay for abortion and says candidate B’s support for unlimited abortion paid for with tax dollars, even as a method of birth control and even late in pregnancy, is too extreme.”
Or
“Candidate B, who believes a woman has a right to have an abortion at any time with no restrictions and says the decision should be left to the woman. Candidate B supports using tax dollars to pay for abortion and says Candidate A’s position of opposing abortion is too extreme and dangerous to women.”
Candidate A—who is against abortion— was chosen by 47.1% of the general election voters. Candidate B who supports abortion garnered 44.2%.
The third scenario poses the question this way:
“Candidate A, who believes abortion takes the life of an unborn child and opposes abortion except to save the life of the mother and in cases of rape or incest or because of a medical emergency. Candidate A also opposes using tax dollars to pay for abortion and says Candidate B’s support for unlimited abortion paid for with tax dollars even as a method of birth control and even late in pregnancy, is too extreme.”
Or
“Candidate B, who believes a woman has a right to have an abortion at any time with no restrictions and says the decision should be left to the woman. Candidate B supports using tax dollars to pay for abortion and says Candidate A’s position of opposing abortion is too extreme and dangerous to women.”
In this case Candidate A—who is against abortion—receive 49.3% of the voters. Candidate B—who supports abortion – received 42.1% of the vote.
The survey also gave respondents a lengthy list of options from which to answer the question: “Which of the following comes closest to your own personal position on abortion?”
- Abortion should only be allowed to save the life of the mother.
- Abortion should only be allowed to save the life of the mother or in case of rape or incest.
- Abortion should only be allowed to save the life of the mother, in case of rape or incest or in cases of a medical emergency.
- Abortion should only be allowed up to 6 weeks of pregnancy when the unborn child has a detectable heartbeat, except to save the life of the mother, in cases of rape or incest, or in the case of a medical emergency.
- Abortion should only be allowed up to 15 weeks of pregnancy when the unborn child can feel pain, except to save the life of the mother, in cases of rape or incest or in the case of a medical emergency.
- Abortion should be allowed at any time in pregnancy for any reason.
Here are the poll results. Pro-life (73.7) includes the first five categories below. Exceptions (43.6) are the first three categories.
Pro-life (73.7)
o Exceptions — 43.6
- Only to save life of mother — 13.1
- Save mother, incest, rape — 10.0
- Medical Emergency/Rape — 20.5
Abort up to 6 weeks — 12.5
Abortion up to 15 weeks — 17.6
Abortion at any time — 20.2
Didn’t know/Refused to answer — 6.1
[September 16-22, 2022, McLaughlin & Associates (n=1,000)]
These are important numbers to remember.
You can read the poll in its entirety here.