Is America Becoming a Pro-Life Nation?

Daniel Doherty | July 10, 2013 11:00 AM

The dedicated and committed pro-life activists working hard -- day in and day out -- to raise awareness about the dignity of human life seems to be paying off. Two fairly recent polls now show that an emerging pro-life consensus is on the horizon (if it isn’t here already), according to the Washington Times:

America’s pro-choice voice is losing force, while pro-life messages are resonating more, a couple of separate polls conducted by different agencies found.

Rasmussen finds in a survey of 1,000 likely voters that the gap between pro-choice and pro-life camps is narrowing. Now, 46 percent consider themselves pro-choice and 43 percent pro-life. Rasmussen says the 46 percent represents “the lowest finding in three years of regular surveying,” while the 43 percent represents a tie with “the highest finding [in that category] to date.”

Meanwhile, Gallup’s recent findings are similar.

The survey posed the question: “With respect to the abortion issue, would you consider yourself to be pro-choice or pro-life?” Fully 48 percent said pro-life; 45 percent, pro-choice.

The Rasmussen survey was conducted on Friday and has a margin of sampling error of plus or minus 3 percentage points.

The Gallup figures are based on random telephone interviews of 1,535 adults on May 2-7; the margin of error is plus or minus 4 percentage points.

If America is indeed becoming a more pro-life nation I think there are several reasons why: first, the horrors of the Gosnell trial are probably a major catalyst. The witness testimony as well as the graphic photos convinced me that late-term abortion is a great moral evil that must be outlawed as soon as possible. I’m sure many Americans now feel the same way, if they hadn’t already. And second, the recent fight to outlaw abortion after 20 weeks gestation (although the Gallup survey was conducted months before the farce down in Texas) is bringing the issue of abortion back into the public’s consciousness. Forty years of abortion-on-demand is no longer morally acceptable given what we now know about personhood and fetal pain. And I suspect many pro-choice activists, in the future, will thus be forced to re-evaluate where they stand on this issue, especially as more information becomes readily available them.