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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More than half the world favors leaving abortion to individual choice

A survey released earlier this week by WorldPublicOpinion.org found that in "17 out of 18 nations polled around the world, majorities reject using criminal penalties, such as fines and imprisonment, as a means to prevent abortion."

52% of the people surveyed on four continents from Nigeria to France, Mexico to Indonesia approve of the idea of leaving abortion up to the individual.

23% agree that government's can used non-punitive methods to encourage choices other than abortion (including education, counseling and adoption).

Only 18% agree with the idea that fines or imprisonment or other punitive measures should be used.

In the U.S., the breakdown on these questions was 69%, 21%, 8%, suggesting that right-wing fanatics who support imprisoning doctors or women for making private health decisions or other government intervention in reproductive choice matters are in a global and national minority.

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.

NARAL Endorses Obama

By Joel Wendland

Hopefully, the announcement today by the National Abortion Rights Action League (NARAL) of its endorsement of presumptive Democratic nominee Barack Obama will put to rest persistent but erroneous rumors started by some within the Clinton camp that Obama is bad on women's reproductive rights.

Of course the endorsement would have been much more helpful in avoiding some of the recent divisiveness if it had been made sooner.

The announcement reads in part:

We have been so fortunate to have two fully pro-choice candidates running for the Democratic nomination, and we praised both Sen. Clinton and Sen. Obama for their leadership in standing up for women's reproductive rights.

[...]

To win in November, NARAL Pro-Choice America will educate swing voters who can tip this election: Republican and Indepdendent women. And we cannot let one more day go by without comparing Sen. Obama's fully pro-choice record to Sen. McCain's anti-choice record.

On one hand, we have Sen. Obama—who has been a fully pro-choice ally from day one and whom women can trust.

And on the other hand, we have Sen. John McCain—who has gone even further than George W. Bush in his anti-choice rhetoric by directly calling for the Supreme Court to overturn Roe v. Wade.