The New York Times published a new analysis of ANES election survey by UCLA political science Prof. Lynn Vavreck which finds even many Democrats who say abortion should be legal under all circumstances change their mind when confronted with a specific act of abortion.
Aborting a baby because it is the wrong sex appears to strike the most uniform bipartisan horror into the hearts of American voters: “Hardly anyone in the United States (only 5 percent of Republicans and 10 percent of Democrats) believe abortion should be legal in this case,” writes Prof. Vavreck.
Among the 57 percent of Democrats who said they thought abortion should be always legal, 65 percent changed their mind when given the example of a woman not liking the sex of her baby. 23 percent of “always legal” Democrats later said it should not be legal to abort a child because of financial hardships, either.
(Republicans “always illegal” voters also change their mind, particularly when the life of the mother is at stake. And majorities of both Democrats and Republicans think a woman who has been raped should have a right to an abortion.”)
Maggie Gallagher is a senior fellow at American Principles in Action.
