PUBLIC CONFUSION ABOUT ROE v. WADE AND DOE v. BOLTON.(survey for law for abortion up to three months of pregnancy were illegal)

* The 1973 decision [of Roe v. Wade] is so ingrained in public consciousness that most people can recognize the case by its name. [Emphasis added.] Knight Ridder news story, 12/31/05

* Most women in the survey could not name the case that prompted the Supreme Court's 1973 decision legalizing the right to abortion in the United States. Forty-three percent correctly identified the case as "Roe v. Wade" (or came close to offering the exact name), 2% gave some other name, and 55% admitted outright that they did not know the name of the case.

Half of women (51%) now say they would like to see very strict limits on abortion34% who think it should only be permitted in cases of rape, incest and to save the woman's life and 17% who think abortion should never be permitted. Two years ago, 45% of women preferred either of these two kinds of very strict limitation on abortion. [Emphasis added.] Poll for the Center for Gender Equality by Princeton Survey Research Associates, 4/7/03

* "In 1973, the U.S. Supreme Court decided that states laws which made it illegal for a woman to have an abortion up to three months of pregnancy were un-constitutional, and that the decision on whether a woman should have an abortion up to three months of pregnancy should be left to the woman and her doctor to decide. In general, do you favor or oppose this part of the U.S. Supreme Court decision making abortions up to three months of pregnancy legal?" (Emphasis added to highlight misrepresentation.) Poll result: Favor 52%, oppose 47% [highest in 20 years]. Harris Poll question used since 1973 (!), data from 3/3/05

* AbortionThe deliberate termination of a pregnancy before the fetus is capable of living outside the womb has generally been legal in the United States since 1973, when the Supreme Court ruled (in Roe v. Wade) that abortion cannot be prohibited during the first three months of pregnancy. [Emphasis added to highlight misrepresentation.] New York Times 2005 Almanac, p. 368

* But the most important sentence appears not in the Texas case of Roe vs. Wade, but in the Georgia case of Doe vs. Bolton, decided the same day. In deciding whether an abortion is necessary, Blackmun wrote, doctors may consider "all factors - physical, emotional, psychological, familial and the woman's age - relevant to the well-being of the patient."

It soon became clear that if a patient's "emotional well-being" was reason enough to justify an abortion, then any abortion could be justified.