Analysis

New poll finds majority of Americans support protecting abortion survivors

baby, third trimester, heart, newborn, abortion survivors, abortion

Pro-abortion lawmakers, with the full support of the abortion industry, have continued to repeatedly block a bill that would provide protection for babies born alive after an attempted abortion. The industry and its political cronies have repeatedly claimed that abortion survivors do not exist. Many pro-abortion politicians excuse their inexcusable behavior by arguing that existing law already protects abortion survivors — which is false — and that laws such as the Born-Alive Abortion Survivors Protection Act are extreme. But where do the American people stand?

New polling from Rasmussen found that an overwhelming majority support legislation protecting abortion survivors. 69% of voters agreed that “doctors involved should be required to care for the child and make all reasonable efforts to keep it alive.” This included 77% of Republicans, 72% of Independents, and 61% of Democrats, giving such legislation strong bipartisan support.

The polling also reaffirmed earlier data, finding that a strong majority of Americans continue to want abortion to remain legal. However, 42% of respondents also said that it is “too easy” for women to get an abortion, and 51% believed that abortion should only happen in rare circumstances, or not at all.

READ: Poll: Facts about preborn baby’s heartbeat impact Americans’ abortion opinions

Polling results like these may be why abortion defenders feel it necessary to go to such lengths to justify late-term abortions. In addition to denying that abortion survivors exist, abortion activists have again begun trotting out the excuse that late-term abortions only happen due to severe birth defects or because the mother’s life is in danger. This, however, is patently false, even according to pro-abortion sources.

A 1988 Guttmacher study found that only 2% of women seek late-term abortions because there is a health problem with the baby. Another 2013 study published by the Guttmacher Institute states, “data suggest that most women seeking later terminations are not doing so for reasons of fetal anomaly or life endangerment.” Pro-abortion researcher Diana Greene Foster likewise stated, according to a report from the Congressional Research Service, that abortions for fetal abnormalities “make up a small minority of later abortion.” And a 2010 paper from Julia Steinberg with the pro-abortion Bixby Center for Global Health states, “Research suggests that the overwhelming majority of women having later abortions do so for reasons other than fetal anomaly (Drey et al., 2006; Finer et al., 2005, 2006; Foster et al., 2008).”

When it comes to late-term abortion and protecting the babies who survive, it’s not pro-life lawmakers who are extreme. It’s the abortion supporters who continue to ignore what Americans believe and ignore the evidence that’s right in front of their face.

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