Numbers alone don't suffice when we consider what makes a "women's issue." Men, both in support and opposition, do not feel as strongly about the right and access to abortion as women, again both in support and opposition, do:
<blockquote>An analysis of recent Pew Research Center surveys finds that 33% of women say they strongly oppose more restrictions on abortion, compared with 26% of men. On the other side of the issue, 19% of women strongly favor greater restrictions, compared with 15% of men. Taken together, the majority of women (52% overall) feel strongly about the issue one way or the other, while only 41% of men say the same.
(Abortion a More Powerful Issue for Women, April 23, 2004, <http:// people-press.org/commentary/display.php3?AnalysisID=88>)</blockquote>
<blockquote>Roughly three-quarters (76%) of women under age 50 rate abortion as a very important issue for the court; far fewer males in that age group (58%) see abortion as a high priority. Women under age 50 also are far more likely than older women to attach great importance to possible court rulings on abortion. (Abortion and Rights of Terror Suspects Top Court Issues, August 3, 2005, <http://pewforum.org/docs/index.php?DocID=91></blockquote>
Taking both intensity and number into account, more women than men make abortion their issue and get involved in electoral and social- movement activism about it. That is natural, since men don't get pregnant. For leftists, what's crucial is the proportion of women who "strongly oppose more restrictions on abortion" (33%) versus the proportion of women who "strongly favor greater restrictions" (19%) (and consider that numbers on support for and opposition to greater restrictions do not necessarily square with numbers on whether abortion is morally right or wrong polled by Gallup <http:// mailman.lbo-talk.org/pipermail/lbo-talk/Week-of- Mon-20051031/023862.html>).
Yoshie Furuhashi <http://montages.blogspot.com> <http://monthlyreview.org> <http://mrzine.org>