LIFE DIGEST: Abortion support declines in spite of election

By Tom Strode - May 5, 2009 -

Support for legal abortion fell by 8 percent among Americans in eight months’ time even as they elected a President who supports abortion rights, according to a new survey.

Also in this edition: California county restores funds to Planned Parenthood and Oldest stem cell donor 75 years of age.

The percentage of American adults who believe abortion should be legal in all or most cases declined from 54 percent in August to 46 percent in a poll conducted by the Pew Research Center from March 31 to April 21. Pew announced the results of its phone survey of more than 1,500 adults April 30.

Since 1995, all surveys, with the exception of this one and an August 2001 poll, have shown a majority of Americans favor legal abortion, according to Pew.

The new survey found:

  • Of the 46 percent who favor legal abortion, 28 percent support it in most cases and 18 percent in all cases.
  • Of the 44 percent who oppose legal abortion, 28 percent say it should be illegal in most cases and 16 percent in all cases.
  • The fall in support for legal abortion came almost totally in those who say it should be legal in most cases – from 37 to 28 percent.
  • The decline in support for legal abortion fell more among men than women, from 53 to 43 percent among males and from 54 to 49 percent among females.
  • Moderate and liberal Republicans showed by far the greatest decline among various categories, dropping by 24 percentage points, from 67 to 43 percent, in their support of legal abortion.
  • Protestants demonstrated the largest decrease among religious identities, falling 11 points (49 to 38 percent), while Roman Catholics dropped only two (49 to 47).
  • Among whites, mainline Protestant support for legal abortion fell 15 points (69 to 54), evangelical support dropped 10 points (33 to 23) and non-Hispanic Catholic support fell two points (51 to 49).
  • Support for legal abortion decreased among whites (55 to 47) but increased slightly among blacks (49 to 50).
  • The percentage of conservative Republicans who favor legal abortion fell six percent (31 to 25), while conservative and moderate Democratic support rose four percent (54 to 58) and liberal Democratic support declined three percent (81 to 78).
  • In the overall political categories, support by independents for legal abortion fell 11 points (55 to 44) and support by Republicans decreased nine points (41 to 32), but Democrats stayed the same at 63 percent.

Democratic nominee Barack Obama gained election to the White House in November despite a legislative record in support of abortion without restrictions. Although he has promoted abortion reduction, Obama has overturned restrictions on funding international organizations that perform and promote abortions.

In last year’s election, voters also increased the number of pro-choice members of Congress.

California county restores funds to Planned Parenthood

A Southern California county’s board of supervisors has voted to restore nearly $300,000 in funds for Planned Parenthood.

The April 28 decision came about seven weeks after the Orange County supervisors voted unanimously to suspend a $291,788 contract with Planned Parenthood, which is the leading abortion provider nationwide. The board said it rescinded its March 10 action at the advice of lawyers. The board was concerned it would face “costly litigation,” supervisor Janet Nguyen said, according to The Orange County Register.

The supervisors adopted a new policy that will make it more difficult for Planned Parenthood and other clinics to qualify for such a grant in the future, The Register reported. The rule bars tobacco settlement money, which is the source of the grant, from going to health education programs and requires it to be spent on direct clinical care. The grant to Planned Parenthood was for health education. It also prohibits such grants from being spent on abortions or services offered in the same facility in which abortions are done, according to the newspaper.

During the meeting, a lawyer from the Alliance Defense Fund told supervisors his organization would defend the county in court for free if they are sued. “To clearly say that county tax payers should not be paying for abortion or abortion advocacy . . . you have the right to do that under the law,” Craig Alexander said, The Register reported.

The affiliates of the Planned Parenthood Federation of America (PPFA), the national organization, performed more than 305,000 abortions in 2007, the latest year for which statistics are available. Its revenue reached $1.04 billion for the 2007-08 financial year, with $349.6 million of that in government grants and contracts.

Oldest stem cell donor 75 years of age

A 75-year-old, British grandmother is the world’s oldest stem cell donor.

In October, Erica Henderson donated stem cells to her brother, Paul Hallowes, 69, who learned in April he is in remission from leukemia, according to the Telegraph. She did so despite medical rules barring stem cell donors from being more than 70 years old. Doctors at a London hospital found she was “100 per cent fit” and approved her for the procedure.

Hallowes had been told he had only two years to live after chemotherapy treatments left him severely restricted in producing blood cells and no match could be found among his three children, five grandchildren or 600,000 blood donors in the national database, the Telegraph reported April 30. Henderson was found to be a “perfect match,” according to the newspaper.

Stem cells provide hope for producing cures for a variety of diseases, because of their ability to develop into other cells and tissues. Though adult stem cells are not considered as potent as embryonic stem cells, they have produced therapies for at least 73 ailments in human beings, according to Do No Harm, a coalition promoting ethics in research.

Embryonic stem cells have at least three problems: (1) Their extraction requires the destruction of an embryo; (2) they have been plagued by the development of tumors in lab animals, and (3) they have failed to provide any treatments for human beings.

The Ethics & Religious Liberty Commission works to protect the sanctity of human life. If you would like to learn more about this issue, additional resources are available here. If your church is interested in purchasing bulletin inserts or other materials on the sanctity of human life, please visit our online bookstore and erlc.com.

Further Learning

Learn more about: Life, Abortion, Stem-Cell Research, Science, Bioethics