Most Americans Say They Are Pro-Life, But There's a Catch!

"Gallup began asking Americans to define themselves as pro-choice or pro-life on abortion in 1995, and since then, identification with the labels has shifted from a wide lead for the pro-choice position in the mid-1990s, to a generally narrower lead for "pro-choice" -- from 1998 through 2008 -- to a close division between the two positions since 2009. However, in the last period, Gallup has found the pro-life position significantly ahead on two occasions, once in May 2009 and again today. It remains to be seen whether the pro-life spike found this month proves temporary, as it did in 2009, or is sustained for some period." - Gallup, Inc.

WASHINGTON, DC (Catholic Online) - On Wednesday one of the headlines on the Gallup Organization's website read "'Pro-Choice' Americans at Record-Low 41%." Their findings indicated that the decline in the number of those who support abortion is present among Republicans, Democrats and Independents, although obviously at different levels. Democrats are still overwhelmingly anti-Life.

So, is it time to celebrate the win? Not yet.

If you keep reading the report, you get to the hard news regarding the way Americans feel about abortion. While only 38% of those polled believe that abortion is morally acceptable, only 20% believe it should be made illegal under any circumstances and 25% believe it should be kept legal under certain circumstances.

This means that there is a huge gap between opinion and conviction.

While most of those sampled identify themselves as being pro-life, they do not possess the moral indignation that abortion is not only legal but also quickly becoming an entitlement in our country.

This disconnect needs to become the target of those who want see our nation move beyond having a pro-life attitude.

In summarizing their findings, the Gallup organization reported, "Since 2009, Americans have been closely divided in their identification with the labels most commonly used by each side of the abortion debate, although twice in that time period, including today, the percentage identifying as pro-life has been significantly higher than the pro-choice percentage. This represents a clear shift from 2001 to 2008, when Gallup most often found pro-choice adherents in the plurality."

They went on to summarize the recent issues that have kept the issues of life before the public. They cited:
   - Congressional efforts to eliminate funding of Planned Parenthood
   - The controversy over the suspension of the Susan G. Komen grant to PP
   - The ongoing conflicts that have arisen in conscience and religious freedom due to the Obama administration's initiatives that particularly targeted the Catholic Church.

Gallup stated that they could not determine whether any of these controversies have had a direct impact on the shift in views.

Kristi Hamrick of Americans United for Life told Newsmax that she saw the report as encouraging.

"There is a growing uneasiness across America regarding the poorly regulated abortion industry and the presence of an abortion mandate and an abortion-inducing drug mandate in the healthcare law. Americans value life, and this poll reflects that," she stated.

MSNBC's report on the poll, however, called the results dubious, indicating that "'pro-choice' and 'pro-life' are labels that lack nuance, and the details make all the difference."

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After reviewing the entire report, it could very well be that a number of Pro-life veterans would probably agree with that assessment, recognizing the inconsistencies of the findings, particularly regarding the issue of legality.

Randall Terry, founder of Operation Rescue and currently running as a Democratic candidate for President to highlight the horrors of killing the unborn, issued the following statement:

"If we can properly catechize those who say they are pro-life into being men and women who will use their political capital to end this holocaust, we could end the killing. But they must be transformed from pro-life sympathizers to pro-life agitators.
 
"Samuel Adams said, 'It does not require a majority to prevail, but rather an irate, tireless minority keen to set brush fires in people's minds.'
 
"Our problem is that even though more say they are 'pro-life,' the populace is far less irate and tireless to end the killing than it was 25 years ago.

"Tens of thousands were arrested protesting abortion; today, pro-lifers sign on-line petitions.
 
"Only when we have a wave of OUTRAGE against child killing that translates into child killing being an "issue" at the top of voters' priorities - so that we make it a criminal act - will we see this holocaust ended."

While the news is encouraging, the report certainly indicates that there is a lot more work to do in strengthening pro-life initiatives in the United States. Somehow conviction needs to move into action.

Currently, the death toll for the unborn taken through the horrors of abortion stands at 53,000,000 children - almost the combined population of the states of California and Texas.

In addition, Lawrence Roberge, in his book "The Cost of Abortion" states that Dr. Bogomir Kuhar, a pharmacist concerned about chemical abortion, has calculated that in combining all forms of induced abortion -- the IUD, Depo-Provera, Norplant, surgical, and the Pill (and injectables, implants, and oral products that work in a similar fashion), between 9.6 and 13.4 million young lives are terminated in the U.S. alone each year. This would approximate destroying the entire population of Ohio every year.

These are catastrophic numbers representing the lives of actual children; the reality of their deaths needs to sink in.

Our motto at Catholic Online states that we want to inform - inspire - and also ignite. Catholic action as well as action on the part of all pro-life Americans is going to be needed to overturn this holocaust in the womb.

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Gallup indicated that they would issue a more detailed report looking at "trends by gender, age, and other demographic variables."

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Randy Sly is the Associate Editor of Catholic Online and the CEO/Associate Publisher for the Northern Virginia Local Edition of Catholic Online (http://virginia.catholic.org). He is a former Archbishop of the Charismatic Episcopal Church who laid aside that ministry to enter into the full communion of the Catholic Church.

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