Polled to Death

Tracking some polls on opinions of partial-birth abortion... it seems there has been consistency over the years with about two-thirds of the American public opposed to partial-birth abortion... So why has it taken so long for our elected officials to catch up?

What Now, Lifers?: Ditch partial-birth - pro-life movement strategy
National Review, Feb 19, 2001 by John J. Miller

http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m1282/is_3_53/ai_70433369

Ebbing Support For Abortion On Demand
CNN/TIME poll finds fewer Americans support unrestricted access
By Keating Holland/CNN

WASHINGTON (Jan. 16) -- In a significant shift, fewer Americans today support unrestricted access to abortion than six years ago, according to a new CNN/TIME poll.

In 1992, nearly half the country believed a woman should be able to get an abortion if she wanted one no matter what the reason. Today, only 38 percent favor abortion on demand.

Now, 43 percent of people surveyed believe that abortion should only be legal in certain circumstances, such as when the woman's health in endangered or when the pregnancy results from rape or incest.

Sixteen percent believe abortion should be illegal in all circumstances. And nearly three-quarters of Americans think that the government should ban the procedure sometimes called "late-term" or "partial-birth" abortion except in cases where the mother's life is in danger...

Partial-Birth/Late-Term Abortion Should Be...
Legal 19%
Illegal 74
Not sure 7

http://www.cnn.com/ALLPOLITICS/1998/01/16/poll/

Same articles, different headline tags

PARTIAL-BIRTH HYPOCRITES
by Robert Novak

April 23, 2007 -- WHEN the Supreme Court Wednesday upheld the Partial Birth Abortion Ban Act passed by Congress in 2003, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid told a press conference: "I would only say that this isn't the only decision that a lot of us wish that [Justice Samuel] Alito weren't there and [former Justice Sandra Day] O'Connor were there." Does that mean Reid was repudiating his Senate vote for the bill restricting abortions? No, he told me, he was talking about other decisions by Alito...

http://www.nypost.com/seven/04232007/postopinion/opedcolumnists/partial_birth_hypocrites_opedcolumnists_robert_d__novak.htm

Abortion ruling has Reid, Dems in tricky spot
April 23, 2007
BY ROBERT NOVAK novakevans@aol.com

http://www.suntimes.com/news/novak/353423,CST-EDT-NOVAK23.article

Partial pro-life Dems

By Robert Novak
Tuesday, April 24, 2007

WASHINGTON -- When the Supreme Court Wednesday upheld the Partial Birth Abortion Ban Act passed by Congress in 2003, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid told a press conference: "I would only say that this isn't the only decision that a lot of us wish that (Justice Samuel) Alito weren't there and (former Justice Sandra Day) O'Connor were there." Does that mean Reid was repudiating his Senate vote for the bill restricting abortions? No, he told me Thursday, he was talking about other decisions by Alito.

Reid reflects a dilemma on abortion among Democrats who are flying high against dispirited Republicans. Delivering a fetus and then crushing its skull, a procedure called "partial birth abortion" by its critics, is massively unpopular. Its prohibition is favored 61 percent to 28 percent in the most recent poll (Fox News, March 2006). But the abortion rights lobby is adamant against any erosion of Roe v. Wade...

http://www.pittsburghlive.com/x/pittsburghtrib/opinion/columnists/guests/s_504192.html