Public Opinion and Abortion

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Public Opinion and Abortion

• By. Arturo Rodriguez

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What is Public Opinion?

• Is the term used to describe the publics feelings
  and attitudes toward issues, leaders,
  institutions and events.
• This can be found by interviewing and conducting
  random surveys about a political issue.
• Examples Stem cell testing, abortion, war in
  Iraq, and President Bushs approval.

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Abortion

• As we stand today abortion is legal in the U.S.
• The Roe v. Wade case made this practice legal,
  here in this country.
• There are many people who still support a womens
  right to an abortion if she has a valid reason
  and its not too late in the pregnancy. Surveys
  done on Americans show that support level is
  still high but the number of those against this
  practice is growing.

• Some people argue that abortion has become more
  acceptable because of advances like the
  morning- after pill and ultra sound- guided
  abortions as early as 8 days after conception.
• But this also raises additional moral doubts
  among the people by making a fetus potentially
  viable at an earlier stage and providing parents
  with ultrasound photos from the womb.

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Restrictions to abortion

• 32 states require parental notification before a
  minor can have an abortion.
• 17 states require a waiting period, according to
  the Alan Guttmacher Institute.
• The Abortion-rights groups worry that even if
  abortion remains legal, it may become real hard
  to get one because very few doctors and clinics
  out there are willing to perform one.

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Roe V. Wade

• A pregnant single woman (Roe) brought a class
  action challenging the constitutionality of the
  Texas criminal abortion law, which prohibits
  having an abortion except on medical advice for
  the purpose of saving a mothers life.
• A licensed physician (Hallford), who had two
  state abortion prosecutions pending against him,
  was permitted to step in.

• A three judge District court, which consolidated
  the actions, held that Roe and Hallford, and
  members of their classes, had standing to sue and
  presented justiciable controversies.
• Relief was warranted, the court declared the
  abortion statutes void as vague and overbroadly
  infringing those plaintiffs 9th and 14th
  Amendment rights.
• This made abortion legal

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Bushs stance on Abortion

• President Bush opposes abortion.
• In 2003, he signed a federal ban on the late-term
  abortion procedure sometimes called partial
  birth-abortion.
• President Bush also signed a law making it a
  federal offense to kill or injure a fetus during
  the act of another federal crime.

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Abortion Procedures declining

• More than one in five pregnancies ends in
  abortion, according to the National Center for
  Health Statistics.
• Though the rate in abortions has declined in
  recent years.
• In 1998 there were 878,000 abortions.
• In 1990 there had been a total of 1.4 million
  according to the Centers for Disease Control and
  Prevention.

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Publics View

• Polls find that two-thirds of Americans say
  abortion should be legal during the 1st
  trimester, but it drops by 8 in the 3rd
  trimester.
• When a womens health or life is endangered or
  when a pregnancy was caused by rape, or when the
  baby has a serious birth defect, more than ¾ of
  the public favors the option of abortion.

• But this support falls to 34 when the reasons
  for having an abortion are economic (like when a
  family cannot afford more children) or when a
  minor becomes pregnant (giving it up for adoption
  is a more reasonable choice).
• Over ½ of Americans say they personally consider
  abortion to be wrong. But nearly 6 out of 10
  believe abortion should stay legal and the
  government should not get involved in the
  abortion issue.

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3 Perspectives to abortion in the Public

• Opposing abortion
• Supporting abortion rights
• Respecting Differences