--- Doug Henwood <dhenwood at panix.com> wrote:
> [The original report is at
>
<http://www.advancewomen.org/womens_research/Progress&Perils.pdf>.]
>
> Washington Times - July 2, 2003
>
> Pro-life women shift to majority
> By Grant Schulte
>
> The balance between pro-choice women and women who
> say abortion
> should be outlawed or severely restricted is
> shifting toward the
> pro-life side, bumping that group into the majority
> in the debate
> over reproductive rights, according to a new
> national poll.
>
> Fifty-one percent of women surveyed by the Center
> for the Advancement
> of Women said the government should prohibit
> abortion or limit it to
> extreme cases, such as rape, incest, or
> life-threatening
> complications.
>
> The findings, with a 3 percent margin of error for
> the 1,000 women
> surveyed, tips the scale from the last sampling in
> 2001, when 45
> percent of women sided against making abortion
> readily available or
> imposing only mild restrictions. Only 30 percent
> support making it
> generally available, down from 34 percent in 2001,
> the survey found.
>
> The New York-based center that sponsored the survey
> is a nonpartisan
> advocacy group for pro-choice women's rights. The
> center's president,
> Faye Wattleton, headed the Planned Parenthood
> Federation of America
> for 14 years.
>
> "While we do have a certain point of view on women's
> issues, we don't
> believe we should suppress information," Mrs.
> Wattleton said in an
> interview yesterday with The Washington Times. "You
> don't want to
> create false or artificial data."
>
> The results, announced with a series of women's
> responses to issues
> such as domestic violence and affirmative action,
> found that fewer
> women - 41 percent - consider protecting abortion a
> top priority, an
> 8 percent drop from 2001. Of the 12 top priorities,
> keeping abortion
> legal was second to last, beating only the
> percentage of women who
> want to increase the number of girls participating
> in organized
> sports.
>
> Eighty percent of women also reported having no
> second thoughts about
> their views on abortion.
>
> Mrs. Wattleton, a women's rights activist in the
> 1970s, called the
> survey's results a "disturbing" step against the
> pro-choice
> perspective. She pointed to another part of the
> survey in which 50
> percent of women said they believe the Supreme Court
> will let current
> abortion laws stand. Women who predicted the court
> would change the
> law said by a 2-to-1 margin that the court would
> make getting an
> abortion more difficult instead of easier, the
> survey said.
>
> At issue during the high court's recent session was
> whether one or
> several of the justices would step down, opening the
> door to a
> President Bush appointee. The Bush administration
> has been tightening
> the restrictions on certain types of abortions after
> President
> Clinton undid many limitations from previous
> administrations.
>
> "It's a broader issue now than mere reproductive
> rights," said Mrs.
> Wattleton, adding that changing administrations
> shouldn't seesaw on
> what she considers an inalienable right. "I've
> always felt it struck
> at the status of women in society.
>
> "But even if we hold our noses at it, we want to be
> sure we show
> women's true perspective."
>
> Pro-life groups applauded that portion of the
> survey, saying they
> were glad the organization did not skew results in
> its favor.
>
> "They're concerned about the shift, and rightfully
> so," said Ann
> Scheidler, executive director of the Chicago-based
> Pro-Life Action
> League. "We are winning. It's by no means going to
> be in a year are
> two, but our effort is to eventually make abortion
> unthinkable."
>
> The survey findings come just after the Supreme
> Court decided not to
> hear a case in which a federal appeals court barred
> anti-abortion
> groups from publishing Internet "wanted" posters for
> doctors who
> perform abortions. The lower court's judge ruled a
> year ago that
> although the posters contained no threatening
> language, the
> criminal-style look amounted to "true threats" not
> protected by the
> First Amendment.
>
> The poll also found that 43 percent of women
> reported facing
> prejudice or discrimination in the workplace because
> of their sex,
> although only 50 percent said affirmative-action
> programs should
> continue. Roughly one-third said affirmative action
> should either be
> phased out or ended immediately.
>
> The center's poll, titled "Progress and Perils: New
> Agenda for
> Women," was conducted by Princeton Survey Research
> Associates, an
> independent research company specializing in social
> and policy work.
> The center's Web site and survey is located at
> <www.advancewomen.org.>
>
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