Poll: 80 Percent of Americans Favor Major Abortion Restrictions
Over 80 percent of Americans are in favor of major restrictions on abortion, according to recently released results of a poll commissioned by Knights of Columbus and conducted by The Marist Institute for Public Opinion.
"We've been doing polls like this for a number of years. The numbers have consistently been in this range for the last four years so it wasn't a surprise to us," said Andrew Walthers of Knights of Columbus in a telephone interview with The Christian Post last week.
However, most people however would probably assume differently in a society where you can have an abortion "on-demand" he noted.
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The highlights of the poll conducted December 4-6, 2012 were revealed in a press release last Tuesday. The results showed that support for significant abortion restrictions increased by four points since last year – rising from 79 percent to 83 percent.
Of the 83 percent who support significant restrictions on abortion, 10 percent believe abortion should never be permitted; 12 percent believe abortion should be allowed only to save the life of the mother; 34 percent would restrict abortion only to cases of rape or incest, or to save the life of the mother; and 27 percent would limit abortion to – at most – the first three months of pregnancy.
Only 11 percent would allow abortion at any time, while 6 percent would allow it during the first six months of pregnancy.
"After four decades of legalized abortion in this country, Americans have had ample time to understand that abortion has terrible consequences," said Knights of Columbus Supreme Knight Carl Anderson. "They understand abortion's true legacy – a child loses life, and parents lose a child. And after witnessing the effects of abortion for the past 40 years, Americans are not legally or morally comfortable with that legacy. It is time for our country to chart a new course on this issue – a course that protects both the mother and the child."
Data for the poll was gathered via a telephone survey of 1,246 adults residing in the continental United States and has a margin of error of ±2.8 percentage points.
"This poll indicates that the majority of Americans recognize that limiting abortion is good public policy for the nation. Whenever a life is at stake, most people favor exercising caution," said Attorney David C. Gibbs III in an e-mail to The Christian Post.
Gibbs is founder and president of The National Center for Life and Liberty (NCLL) a new non-profit, legal ministry also launched on Tuesday. He is best known as the lead attorney for Terri Schiavo's family during her fight for life, and for his twenty years of faithful service with the Christian Law Association. He is also the host of the nationally syndicated weekly radio show, Law Talk Live, and is a regular national television contributor on the Fox News Network and other news outlets.
NCLL consists of five centers: the Center for Life Defense, the Center for Church Liberty, the Center to Advance the USA, the Center for Christian Education, and the Center for Homeschool Liberty.
Through its five centers, NCLL will provide legal counsel and representation, will testify and provide model legislation to state and federal legislatures, and will engage the culture through various media. NCLL's mission statement is: "If it's wrong, fight it. If it's right, fight for it."
For more information visit: www.NCLL.org.
