Power

When It Comes to Abortion and Contraception, Three Out of Four Americans Are On the Same Page

Despite claims of a heated dispute over reproductive health, there are many places where almost everyone agrees.

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Protect eggs from the moment they are fertilized, regardless of the situation. Block funding to family planning providers under the guise of “fungible” money for abortions.  Provide employers with the right to reject–on their own “moral grounds”–to contraceptive coverage in employee-earned insurance plans. These are the policy issues at the center of an ongoing political battle, despite the fact that for the vast majority of Americans, there really shouldn’t be any debate at all.

According to a Public Policy Polling poll commissioned by the Daily Kos/SEIU State of the Nation, a full 75 percent of those questioned responded that abortion bans should include exceptions in the cases of rape, incest, or life or health of the pregnant woman or girl.

“Sure, Republicans are a bit more likely to support a complete ban on abortion, but at 20 percent, they are a distinct fringe even within their own party,” writes the Daily Kos. “Considering that 30-35 percent still think George W. Bush was totally awesome, they haven’t even locked down their hardest core supporters on this.”

At the same time, the public is also adamantly against limiting access to contraception, arguing that there should be less, not more, roadblocks to obtaining birth control. In a new survey conducted by the National Campaign to Prevent Teen and Unplanned Pregnancy, 75 percent of those polled said that politicians who oppose abortion need to be supportive of birth control. 

When a vast majority of people seem to agree that abortion should never be banned without exceptions, and that those who oppose abortion need to support available birth control, why are we still letting reproductive policy be set by the minority who would refuse to allow a termination for absolutely any reason and block women from access to contraception, too?