National Poll Shows Substantial Increase In Pro-Life Attitudes.

A multi-part series that ran in the Buffalo News in late Novem-ber not only handled abortion in a thoughtful, even-handed manner, but also provided one of the most thorough, encouraging portraits of public opinion in years.

On virtually every dimension, the story, written by Jerry Zremski, illustrates how the public is continuing to move in a pro-life direction. Nowhere is this more true than with young people.

The story's headline--"Attitude becomes more negative on abortion"--is accurate but is like saying the presidency became more pro-life when George W. Bush replaced Bill Clinton: true but highly understated. Nonetheless, the opening sentence does a good job of setting the table:

"More than one-fifth of Americans surveyed say they're less in favor of abortion today than they were a decade ago--and that's nearly twice the number who say they've become more pro-choice." How does the paper know this?

The Buffalo News used Zogby International, a well-known polling firm, to conduct a poll of a little over 1,000 people nationwide, and another 800 in Erie and Niagara counties [New York], from November 12 to 14. What Zogby found is that almost exactly one-third (32.8%) of all respondents said their feelings had changed in the past 10 years. Those who were less in favor of abortion outnumbered those more in favor of abortion by an almost 2-1 margin: 21% to 11.3%. Perhaps more significant is that only 5.4% said they were "much more" in favor of abortion than they were a decade ago compared to 14.5% who were "much less" in favor of abortion. As always the intensity factor redounds to the benefit of unborn babies.

The responses of young people are surprising only to those who haven't been keeping track. Asked "By law, in which one of the following circumstances should abortion be permitted," 21.9% of 18-to 29-year-olds said "always." But a whopping 33.2% of this same age group said "never."

Another 30.1% would tolerate abortion only in instances of rape, incest, or when the mother's life is endangered. Combined, that is almost two-thirds--63.3%. Those numbers apply to the 18-to 29-year-old category.