>I would not pay too much attention to such crap. The pro-life vermin
>tried this trick in Maryland in 1992 based on results of a similar poll
>(the so called question 6 which asked for restriction on repreductive
>freedom). And they woke up to a very big surprise, as the question was
>defeated at the polls by the ratio 2:1.
>
>Opinion polls are notoriously misleading - for a number of good reasons,
>people tend to give "politically correct" or "socially acceptable"
>answers instead of saying what they really think.
In this case, it's the use of the phrase "unborn children" that stacks the results. Less tendentious polls show more support for abortion. But the trends aren't good. Here are some examples from Gallup. Note that attitudes have turned more hostile over the last 6-10 years.
Doug
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Do you think abortions should be legal under any circumstances, legal only under certain circumstances, or illegal in all circumstances?
legal under
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any circs certain circs illegal no opinion
1/10-12/03 24 57 18 1 2/24-26/95 33 50 15 2 6/29/92 34 48 13 5 4/4-7/75 21 54 22 3
(If certain circumstances) Do you think abortion should be legal in most circumstances or only in a few circumstances?
any circs most circs a few circs illegal no opinion 1/10-12/03 24 14 42 18 1 9/6-7/94 33 13 38 13 3
Specific situations, from the 1/10-12/03 poll:
legal illegal depends no opinion woman's life endangered 85 11 2 2
woman's physical health endangered 77 17 4 2
woman's mental healh endangered 63 32 3 2
baby may be physi- cally impaired 56 37 4 3
baby may be men- tally impaired 55 39 3 3
pregnancy caused by rape or incest 76 19 2 3
woman/family can't afford to raise child 35 61 2 2