When the wording used in the public opinion polls was clear and unequivocal, Americans have always showed that they were more pro-life than pro-abortion. But the pro-life movement's educational efforts, the advance of ultrasound technology, the devastation abortion has had on millions of women, and the divine grace we have enjoyed through countless prayers have had dramatic effect in converting ever more Americans to an openly pro-life position.Thus even pollsters like the Gallup organization are showing a substantial trend moving away from abortion.
...Gallup, which has done a lot of work in the past year on the abortion issue, has concluded that this pro-life self-identification is now the "new normal." According to Gallup's Lydia Saad, the results of a May 3-6, 2010, poll showed "Slightly more Americans call themselves 'pro-life' than 'pro-choice'"-- 47% vs. 45%...
There are many important messages coming out, but let's just talk about three. First, "While the two-percentage-point gap in current abortion views is not significant," Saad writes, "it represents the third consecutive time Gallup has found more Americans taking the pro-life than pro-choice position on this measure since May 2009, suggesting a real change in public opinion. By contrast, in nearly all readings on this question since 1995, and each survey from 2003 to 2008, more Americans called themselves pro-choice than pro-life."
Second, as Gallup has pointed out repeatedly, Republicans increasingly self-identify as pro-life and Democrats pro-abortion, according to two-year averages of results since 2001. Republicans have jumped from 57% self-identified pro-life in 2003-2004 to 68% in 2009-2010. Meanwhile "Democrats' self-identification with the pro-life position has moved in the other direction, declining from 37% in 2003/2004 to 31% in 2009/2010," according to Saad...
How about Independents who lean to neither party? They "also became more likely to call themselves pro-life' between 2003/2004 and 2005/2006, but have since held steady."
Third, and perhaps most importantly, not only do more men and more women say they are pro-life, "All age groups have become more attached to the pro-life label since 2005, with particularly large increases among young adults and those aged 50 to 64 years in the latest period between 2007/2008 and 2009/2010," Saad writes. In 2003/04, for example, 40% of 18-29 year olds identified themselves as pro-life. By 2009/10, that figure has jumped to 47%....
Here's more of the piece by Dave Andrusko of National Right to Life.
