[lbo-talk] Catholicism, was Re: blacks about as morally conservative as Republicans

[Wendy Lyon]

On 09/12/2008, Jenny Brown <jbrown72073 at cs.com> wrote:
>
>  I think it depends how you ask the question.  If you ask in the abstract,
> "should abortion be illegal?" many more will say yes than if you say,
> "should the government punish women, doctors?"  And people in the U.S. are a
> lot more likely to say 'there oughta be a law' than that the government
> should encourage or discourage this or that.

The question on the page is "should the government discourage abortion
using criminal enforcement". I agree you're likely to get a lower Yes
on that question than on "should abortion be illegal".  But 8%?  No
way.


>  I'm just
> trying to break through the reflexive tone--how could this be!  Mexico's
> Catholic!

There's nothing reflexive at all about my skepticism regarding the
Mexican statistics on that page. You make too many assumptions. I
doubt those numbers because they are not in keeping with the things
that I read or heard from Mexican activists themselves in the wake of
the Mexico City law change. I would put more credence in their reports
than on some random poll on the internet that happens to have a number
of other dodgy statistics.