Most Americans Look for Middle Ground on Abortion


Focus on the Family, Action


SUMMARY: Pro-life leaders say once people understand the issue, there is no middle.

While the abortion issue may be the most polarizing of our time, nearly three-fifths of Americans surveyed in an Associated Press poll seem to be trying to stake out a position in the middle -- somewhere between a total ban and abortion on demand through all nine months.

Meanwhile, about 20 percent claim to be solid supporters of abortion and about 20 percent solidly against, leaving that large "mushy middle."

The poll split along party lines with two-thirds of Democrats saying abortion should be legal in all or most cases, while two-thirds of Republicans said it should be illegal all or most of the time.

Jim Kessler, vice president of policy at Third Way, a strategy group for moderate Democrats, said, not surprisingly, that most people seek to be moderate.

"I think on a lot of cultural issues, voters are instinctively looking for a moderate middle," he said. "That kind of safe ground they would like to see politicians hold."

But, Tom Glessner, president of the National Institute of Family and Life Advocates, said if people truly understood the issue, there would be no support for abortion -- and no one trying to stay in middle.

"Once someone does understand the procedure, what it does to the child and what it does to the woman," he said, "they come strongly in the pro-life camp."

He told Family News in Focus those in the middle often wind up playing into the hands of the hard-line pro-abortion side.

"The Democrats want to appeal to the mushy middle," he said, "because that gives them the majority on the issue."

According to Glessner, abortion is not an issue on which someone can choose a position based on poll results. It has to be based on principle.

"We've got to hold firm, and whether a majority agrees with us or not, we've got to hold firm, educate and continue to talk about it," he said. "The majority didn't agree with Lincoln on slavery, but Lincoln was right."