Gallup's "pro-life" poll actually showed 76% of Americans support abortion rights

This snippet of analysis is from Flesh and Stone:

Gallup's "pro-life" poll deserves greater scrutiny.

The strategically timed release of a poll showing a sudden 10-point flip in American views on abortion should raise a few eyebrows.

Gallup’s press release claimed, "More Americans “Pro-Life” Than “Pro-Choice” for First Time."

While partisan mainstream editorial writers openly gloated about the “stunning” and “shocking” poll released in May, few traditional media looked critically and honestly at what the poll actually revealed, and reported the findings with the same slant as the news release. Rather than spending a minute exploring why it was stunning or shocking, the media simply reported it as fact.

First off, polls should be suspect. While they may have been reliable in a more innocent age, Gallup, like many other polling companies, is a for-profit corporation. They are commissioned to conduct polls. Unfortunately, polling companies are not required to disclose the name of the commissioning organization, even though it’s the ethically responsible thing to do.

The Gallup poll was released on the day anti-abortion groups planned protests against President Obama's commencement address at Notre Dame and just as there’s a new seat to fill on the U.S. Supreme Court. It certainly smells of partisan efforts to create a buzz and revitalize controversy.

Here’s what the watchdogs said about the Gallup poll as well as a Pew poll that also re-interpreted long-standing findings about America’s stand on abortion choice:

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Planned Parenthood Action Fund Endorses Barack Obama

This from Cecile Richards, president of PPAF:

It's our time to put a president in the White House who cares about women's health, take back our country, and move once again with progress and commitment to the future. That's what Hillary Clinton said when she suspended her presidential campaign and that's what my mother Ann Richards would say if she were alive today.

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Mom required only one thing of the many folks who asked for her campaign help: a 100 percent belief in women's rights. If they didn't have it, they were out of luck. But if they stood up for women as she did, she would travel to the ends of the earth for them.

That's why if she were still around she would suit up and campaign for Senator Obama in the farthest corner of the farthest state. Mom would see in him a leader with a long and consistent record for standing up for women's health care, a man raised by a single mother, a father of two daughters, and a husband who supports women's rights 100 percent.

[...]

In this election, the choice is very clear. Our national Action Fund board has voted unanimously to recommend an endorsement of Senator Barack Obama for president.

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Planned Parenthood Action Fund polling finds that more than half of women voters in battleground states have no idea where Senator McCain stands on women's health issues, and even worse, half of the women who support him describe themselves as pro-choice. The good news is when these women learn about his record of voting against access to family planning and sex education, as well as his opposition to Roe v. Wade, they become much less likely to support him.

Read the full article here.

No woman should have to go without basic health care

From NARAL Pro-Choice America:

In 1970, this fundamental belief spurred a bipartisan coalition in Congress to set up a new program for low-income Americans, called the Title X ("ten") family-planning program.

Title X provides vital services, including pap smears, mammograms, and birth control to five million women and men every year. Family-planning services prevent unintended pregnancies and thus reduce the need for abortion. By investing in preventive health care, Title X saves taxpayers money in the long run.

Now, as our country faces a health-care crisis, anti-choice ideologues in Congress are trying to deny women access to this successful and proven program.

Click here to tell your member of Congress to fight back and fully fund Title X.

Right now, pro-family-plannning lawmakers outnumber our opponents in Congress, but by the very slimmest of margins. Last year, with new pro-choice leadership in Congress, we secured the first significant increase in Title X funding since President Bush took office, but anti-choice politicians aren't giving up.

Just last year, presidential candidate Sen. John McCain and other anti-choice senators tried to deny federal funding to health centers, including Title X clinics, that use their own privately raised dollars for abortion care (they lost). And McCain has voted to terminate the program altogether!

Help us launch the counterattack. Title X needs your help in the face of an onslaught by McCain and his far-right allies.

Programs like Title X should remind us all why it's so important to elect pro-choice leaders this November to beat back these attacks on family planning and invest in programs like Title X that so many women rely on.

Title X has been the cornerstone of our nation's family-planning services for nearly 40 years. By providing vital care, such as cancer screenings and STD treatment, it has undoubtedly saved lives. Let's return the favor by saving Title X. Click here to send a letter to your member of Congress today.