Posted by Eric Scheidler (June 16, 2010 at 6:00 am)
Pro Life Action League
The most recent national
poll
by the Gallup polling company finds, for the second year running, that
more Americans are calling themselves “pro-life” than “pro-choice.”
They’re even calling pro-life the “new normal.”
As you might expect, pro-lifers have greeted these results with
enthusiasm, while the pro-choice side has looked for ways to discount
them.
On the Abortion Gang, a blog for “unapologetic activists for
reproductive justice,” pro-choice blogger Reema
criticizes
pro-lifers—or “anti-choicers” as she calls them—for “going on and on”
about the new poll numbers, despite the fact that many who call
themselves pro-life are “exceptioneers,” who would not support an
all-out ban on abortion.
In the post, entitled “A Question for Anti-Choicers,” she writes:
Exceptioneers make up the majority of the anti-choice
movement, and I’m willing to bet that anti-choice leaders do not
consider exceptioneers “pro-life” at all.
. . . so why are they flaunting around the Gallup polls? Why are they
showing off the amount of Americans who are anti-choice, when they
don’t even accept many of those anti-choice Americans into their cult?
An “Anti-Choice” Leader Responds
Reema ends her post by declaring, “I’d actually be interested in
receiving an answer from anti-choicers (yes, the abortiongang does
accept respectful comments from antis).”
So I offered my own thoughts on this, which were—true to Reema’s
promise—published in the comments under her post. Here’s what I wrote:
Reema—
Thanks for the opportunity to offer a response to your question from
the “anti-choice” side.
I think JivinJ is right that both sides of the Gallup poll include a
sizable segment that have mixed feelings on abortion.
But my guess, based on my years of experience in the movement, is
that there is more of this among those who self-identify as
“pro-choice.”
Just about the only people I’ve come across who call themselves
“pro-life” while opposing all or most legal restrictions on abortion are
politicians trying to curry favor with pro-life voters.
But almost everyone I’ve encountered who self-describes as
“pro-choice” favors at least some kind of abortion restriction (ban on
late term abortions, parental notice, life/health, etc.).
I think that’s to be expected. The label “pro-choice” was coined
specifically to allow people to separate their “personal view” from
their political or legal view on abortion. It’s a term designed to “give
cover” to people who are uncomfortable (even deeply so) with abortion,
but don’t want to see it banned outright.
The term “pro-life” is different. The pro-life movement has never
used this (or any other term) to cover people who are “personally
opposed” but don’t want abortion restricted or banned. “Pro-life” has
always been used, by the movement, to describe opposition to abortion as
both a personal moral view and a matter of public policy. And I think
the general public has understood the term this way.
So one of the reasons these poll numbers are so encouraging for us is
that they suggest our side is even stronger than the nearly 50/50 split
would suggest. If it takes more of a commitment to one’s views on
abortion—less of a tendency to divide one’s private view from one’s
public policy position—to self-describe as “pro-life,” then we’ve less
of that “mushy middle” on our side.
But even if I’m wrong about the commitment behind these two terms,
the poll numbers are still encouraging because they suggest that the
“exceptioneers” are tipping towards identifying themselves as pro-life.
The pro-life “brand” is attracting people who might go either way, as to
what label to wear.
If it’s possible for the exact same position (personally opposed to
abortion, wouldn’t get one, wouldn’t advise anyone to, don’t think it
should be totally unrestricted, but don’t want it banned either) to fall
under “pro-choice” or “pro-life” depending on how one understands those
terms, then it looks like more of those folks are aligning themselves
with the pro-life side, for whatever reason.
As for the reason, that’s anyone’s guess. But there seems to be
something about identifying oneself as pro-life that appeals to a
growing segment of the population, even if that trend doesn’t represent
any actual change in views.
And that’s good news for the pro-life side—and bad news for the
pro-choice side.
Thanks again for the opportunity to weigh in on this.
Eric Scheidler
Executive Director
Pro-Life Action League
