Major media outlets and the talking heads of society have made a bad habit of pronouncing the United States as a pro-choice nation. News outlets and politicians repeatedly claim that the majority of Americans do not want to overturn Roe v. Wade. However, as a new video from Live Action points out, America is a mostly pro-life nation. The media has simply duped Americans into believing otherwise.
Filmmaker Michael Moore, Vox Media Senior Producer Liz Plank, and Senator Bernie Sanders can all be seen in the video restating the false narrative that Americans want Roe v. Wade to remain the law of the land. We have heard it over and over again. But numerous polls show quite the opposite: Americans are more pro-life than pro-choice.
A recent poll by The Hill found that 55 percent of all Americans either want abortion illegal in all circumstances or illegal in all circumstances except for cases of rape, incest, and to save the life of the mother (which is never actually medically necessary). 71 percent of Republicans, 51 percent of Independents, and 44 percent of Democrats actually don’t approve of current abortion law in this country — which is that abortion is legal in all nine months of pregnancy for any reason.
READ: Roe v. Wade legalized abortion on demand… and Americans don’t support that
The results of The Hill poll are not exclusive. Similar polls have come to the same conclusion: America is a mostly pro-life nation. According to a Marist Poll, more than three in four Americans, including six in ten who identify as pro-choice, want “significant restrictions on abortion.” In fact, 41 percent of those who labeled themselves as pro-choice said that abortion should only be legal in the first three months of pregnancy.
In addition, a Virginia Commonwealth University Life Sciences survey found that 44 percent of those questioned about their views on abortion think it should only be legal in certain circumstances. Roe v. Wade made abortion legal in all circumstances, for any reason.
Sixty percent of those surveyed in a Quinnipiac University poll said they support legislation that would ban all abortions nationwide after 20 weeks of pregnancy. Roe v. Wade and its partner decision Doe v. Bolton made abortion legal in all 40 weeks of pregnancy, because they allow for abortion in cases of rape, incest, life or health of the mother (in which “health” may be interpreted as physical, emotional, mental, financial, or otherwise — an exception so broad as to allow abortion in any case whatsoever).
So why are major media outlets such as NBC and the Wall Street Journal reporting that their own polling indicates that the majority of Americans support Roe v. Wade? It may be because their data is skewed.
Only 44 percent of Americans under the age of 30 even know that Roe v. Wade dealt with abortion or that it effectively legalized abortion for any reason through all nine months of pregnancy. That means 56 percent of Americans under age 30 don’t know what Roe v. Wade is. And of those that do know that Roe v. Wade was about abortion, many incorrectly believe that overturning Roe v. Wade would ban abortion. It would not. Rather, it would allow each state to decide for itself whether or not to allow abortion and what restrictions to place on it.
READ: Axios poll misleads public on Roe v. Wade, forced to walk back results
How can Americans accurately state how they feel about Roe v. Wade if they don’t have accurate information on what it’s about or what it meant for abortion? They can’t. When asked directly about their support of legal abortion and preferred restrictions on abortion, the truth is that more Americans are pro-life, not pro-choice.
It’s time to call the media out on their bogus claims. Most Americans don’t agree with the current abortion laws in the United States and they want restrictions on the non-existent “right” that Roe v. Wade bestowed on women to end the lives of their own preborn children.
