It isn't often that the good grey Wall Street Journal wades into the "culture wars". The WSJ does, however, concern itself with trends in public opinion, hence a thoughtful analysis by William McGurn in today's issue.
The conservative author (and former speech writer for George W. Bush) contends that the mainstream media are badly out of touch with American public opinion on the issue of abortion.
The liberal establisment keep telling us that the pro-life (i.e. anti-abortion) community is a fringe group of right-wing Christian nutbars. They tell us the Big Lie, that virtually all intelligent and progressive people long ago recognized women's "reproductive health rights", including the right to kill an unwanted baby.
McGurn says those who are pro-choice (i.e. pro-abortion) are in the minority. A majority of Americans may want abortion to remain legally available, he writes, but poll data consistently show the majority also wants to reduce the incidence of abortions. He quotes some statistics from a recent survey by the Gallup organization.
"Asked to rate various behaviors and social policies (e.g., embryonic stem-cell research, adultery, the death penalty) as either 'morally wrong' or 'morally acceptable', 50% called abortion wrong, as against only 38% who said it was acceptable.
"[They also found], for the second year in a row, that slightly more Americans consider themselves 'pro-life' than 'pro-choice' (47% to 45%)."
The seemingly contradictory poll results can be explained easily enough, McGurn argues, quoting Lydia Saad, a senior editor for Gallup. "On the one hand, the majority of Americans do not want to see Roe v. Wade overturned, and think abortion should be legal in at least a few circumstances. On the other, most Americans favor legal restrictions on abortion that go way beyond current law."
Take heart then, dear pro-life reader. "Notwithstanding a pro-choice orthodoxy that dominates our film, our television, our press and our colleges and universities, strong moral qualms about abortion have not gone away."
Please continue to pray for the souls of the thousands and thousands of innocents who are murdered every year. Pray too for the conversion of those who see nothing wrong with this abomination.
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