Knights Of Columbus Poll Finds Support For Limits On Abortion

Main Category: Abortion
Article Date: 17 Oct 2008 - 4:00 PDT

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A poll released Tuesday by the Knights of Columbus, a Catholic fraternal organization, found that among Catholic respondents, 65% of non-practicing Catholics identified themselves as "pro-choice" on abortion, as opposed to 36% of practicing Catholics, the Religion News Service/USA Today reports. "Practicing" Catholics were defined as those who attend church at least twice a month. Seventy-six percent of pro-choice, non-practicing Catholics polled said abortion should be significantly restricted (Gipson, Religion News Service/USA Today, 10/15) The survey also found that most respondents support some restrictions on when abortions can be performed, the New Haven Register reports.

The Knights of Columbus released the poll three weeks before the presidential election, the outcome of which "could be critical to whether Roe v. Wade is overturned, upheld or modified" if the next president makes nominations to the Supreme Court, the Register reports. Knights of Columbus Supreme Knight Carl Anderson said the "polling data reveal that the American people, when given the chance to specify circumstances in which abortion ought to be legal, overwhelmingly do not support the central holding of Roe v. Wade." He said, "The use of the term 'pro-choice' is a particularly polarizing designation when used as a blanket description, and in fact hides what our polling data suggests is a broad consensus among the American people" (Stannard, New Haven Register, 10/15).

For the poll, the Marist College Institute for Public Opinion surveyed 1,733 U.S. residents, including an oversample of 813 Catholic respondents, about how they felt about "moral issues and Catholic values," focusing on issues such as abortion and gay marriage ("Moral Issues and Catholic Values," Knights of Columbus, 10/14). According to the poll, among respondents who consider themselves "pro-choice," 71% said abortion should be limited to the first three months of pregnancy or used only in cases of "extreme circumstances," according to the Register. The poll also found that 13% of Americans believe abortion should never be permitted, 15% feel it should only be used to save the life of the mother, 32% would allow it in cases of rape or incest or to save the mother's life, and 24% would permit abortion only during the first three months of pregnancy (Stannard, New Haven Register, 10/15).

Jillian Gilchrest, executive director of NARAL Pro-Choice Connecticut, said many U.S. residents believe later abortions are more common than they actually are, adding that 88% of abortions are performed in the first trimester and only 0.02% are performed in the third trimester. Gilchrest said, "I think it's really hard to legislate (specific) situations. So I think where this poll might have achieved greater consensus is if it had asked about (pregnancy) prevention programs" to reduce the number of abortions (The New Haven Register, 10/15).

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