Say Anything Blog

The Associated Press recently released a poll showing a lot of support for the Supreme Court's Roe vs. Wade decision regarding abortion. Unfortunately, that poll was misleading for the people who responded to it and does not give an accurate representation of America's feelings toward abortion.

Here is some text from an email sent out by National Right to Life Legislative Director Douglas Johnson (via Young Pundit):

these results were obtained only after respondents were first presented by the pollster with the erroneous summary that Roe v. Wade made abortion legal "in the first three months of pregnancy." "It is way past time for the news media to stop distorting the real terms of Roe v. Wade. Today's AP story is another example of the news media using two forms of distortion to paint a greatly exaggerated picture of public support for the Supreme Court's abortion policy -- first by minimizing the actual scope of the Roe v. Wade ruling, and second by distorting what it would mean to 'overturn' Roe.

"The AP story used both devices. First, the AP's pollster described a mythical Roe v. Wade. Second, the interpretative story -- like countless earlier stories in major news media -- implied that overturning Roe v. Wade would be contrary to having abortion 'legal in at least some cases.'

"These distortions greatly stack the deck. The real Roe v. Wade allows absolutely no limits on reasons for abortion until nearly six months into pregnancy -- which is a policy that is supported by, at most, 20 percent of the public. Poll after poll shows that 70 to 80 percent of Americans say they favor limitations on abortion that are not permitted under the real Roe v. Wade. In order to permit these limits to be enacted, Roe v. Wade must be changed by the Supreme Court. If the Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade, the effect would be to allow elected lawmakers to place limits on abortion, including a ban on partial-birth abortion. . . .

In reality, however, even if the Supreme Court completely overturned Roe v. Wade, it would not "outlaw abortion." In fact, if the Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade, that action alone would not make any abortion illegal. Rather, the effect of overturning Roe v. Wade would be to allow (but not require) elected lawmakers to decide what degree of legal protection should apply to unborn children.

Once again the media furthers their political agenda by not fully informing the public.