Encouraging News about Teens and Abortion

If you listened to the squeakiest wheels, you would get the impression that most people, and all reasonable people, are pro-choice. Pro-choice, these same squeaky wheels would further claim, means in favor of abortion rights, whether or not they would personally have an abortion. The implication is that even if you don't believe in abortion, if you are reasonable, you will support complete availability of abortion on demand with no restrictions.

There's just one problem with that line of thought: it isn't true. A recent Gallup Poll contradicts it. Teens, we learn, the group most available for indoctrination on the subject, oppose abortion on demand; at least, the majority of them do. What makes this information even more interesting is the realization that this is the group most likely to benefit socially from the availability of abortion.

Think about it: this is a group of people who, if they become pregnant, have the most to fear. They have social ostracization to worry about, not to mention family censure and the destruction of many of their plans for the future; yet this group -- 72% of them -- believes that abortion is morally wrong. And not just for them personally, but for society... in fact, an even higher percentage of the teens polled, 79%, believe that abortion should be either banned completely or legally restricted.

The percentages, in fact, are even higher than those of their adult counterparts who have far less to worry about in the event of unexpected pregnancy. Yet even among adults, the same opinions prevail: 72% of adults polled favor the illegalization or restriction of abortion.

So, when we hear that most people favor "choice," we should ask just who those people are. When Gallup, a neutral and objective pollster finds that the majority of Americans, both adult and youth, disapprove of abortion and want the law to do something about it, the American people have spoken. Those who say otherwise are not speaking for the majority, and should not be permitted to dictate public policy. They are merely squeaky wheels.