Issues

Poll: Only 12 percent of Americans want abortion legal and on demand

This week was the 45th anniversary of Roe v. Wade, which opened the door for the deaths of 60 million preborn babies. The abortion industry wasted no time celebrating, and gleefully announcing that 7 in 10 Americans support the Roe v. Wade decision. It didn’t take long for #7in10forRoe to begin trending. But the problem is that these tweets leave out the details about Americans’ supposed support for abortion — things like the fact that most want it greatly limited and most want information about things like fetal development and fetal pain.

WATCH: Fetal development in 95 seconds

What’s Being Said

There’s More to the Story

While most Americans do support some legalized abortion, there is far more to the story. Where the abortion industry — largely led by Planned Parenthood — diverges from what Americans are willing to accept is in its limits and restrictions. The industry isn’t satisfied with mere legality. “Safe, legal, and rare” has long since been abandoned; now, the call is for taxpayer-funded abortion, on demand, up until the moment of birth.

But Americans strongly disagree with this agenda. Plus, even when Americans think they support abortion in the first trimester, it’s generally because they have never been confronted with what it actually is. For example, when the video below (and the other Abortion Procedure videos here) are shown to women who identify as pro-choice, one-third of them change their minds.

READ: 12 amazing facts that prove the preborn child’s humanity in the first trimester

In the video below, former abortionist Dr. Anthony Levatino explains a typical first trimester abortion procedure, the suction aspiration (or D&C) abortion. It is extremely violent — as all abortion is — actively ripping the developing child from the womb. This child who has a beating heart and brain waves, and can even make facial expressions.

What the Polls Say

Every year, Marist polls American attitudes toward abortion, and its most recently released polling results show that a small majority — 51 percent to 44 percent — identify as “pro-choice,” which is somewhat typical over the past 10 years. Despite this classification of themselves,

But what isn’t usually publicized is how deeply people support restrictions on this so-called “medical procedure,” which increasing numbers of Americans are coming to identify as a violent act against human rights. Here’s what supporters of Roe v. Wade are not telling you:

  • Of those polled, 68 percent responded that abortion should be limited to the first trimester, or only permitted in very rare circumstances (rape, incest, or to save the mother’s life). In fact, of this 68%, only 26% wanted it legal for the whole first trimester for any reason, 30% thought it should be legal for rape, incest, or life of the mother, and 12% would keep it legal only to save the life of the mother.
  • A majority of Americans also see abortion as morally wrong, with six in 10 saying that it is also morally wrong to have an abortion because the preborn baby is diagnosed with a defect or disability like Down syndrome.
  • Of those polled, 52 percent believe that abortion does women more harm than good.
  • 63 percent of Americans want it banned after 20 weeks.
  • Almost 8 in 10 Americans want laws protecting both women and their preborn children.

These poll numbers show how out of touch Planned Parenthood and the rest of the industry is with the American people. The permissiveness of America’s abortion laws is extreme compared to the rest of the world. But while these poll numbers are a good place to start, it’s not enough.

Legal abortion takes real lives.

Legal abortion takes real lives.

Forty-seven percent of respondents said they believe that life begins at conception. And these people are correct: the science of fetal development proves that preborn children are living human beings, from their earliest moment and all the way through the first, second, and third trimesters. Birth is not a magical moment that suddenly makes scientific life a reality.

READ: 40 quotes from medical experts on when human life begins

Every preborn baby, at every age, deserves to be protected. We can’t stop fighting until protection is a reality for every child, no matter how young or small she is.

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