Closet pro-lifers show up in new Gallup abortion poll

Steve:

It's FOUR polls, and the swing has happened just since last August; AND its the first time the numbers have looked that way since Roe. Also, the largest swing was MEN. I think President Abortion is polarizing Americans who resisted thinking about the horrors of the abortion issue for years. I think we CAN put stock in these polls and be encouraged. I am. Since I am a prayer activist and not a political activist, I have to think that perhaps the bowls may be beginning to tip. It is time to press the advantage and pray like never before. We He find faith in the earth for this endeavor. I hope so with all my heart. Gal 6:9 is called for here, my friend. I pray we can avoid growing weary and cynical.

Also, the Notre Dame debacle is causing the pro-life cause to look more and more like the civil rights movement. Can you believe that pro-lifers were arrested on the Notre Dame campus?!. A travesty. My dad is an alumni and is absolutely enraged and very, very hurt. This blind effort to be PC by the ND leadership has backfired in a HUGE way. Catholics are really ticked off. My Catholic pro-life friends I have spoken with believe that God allowed the situation to slap the Catholics in the face with the results of their votes in the 2008 election. He send BHO into THEIR HOUSE! Now they are forced into a position to approve of him and his message, or disapprove and confess their complicity in electing him in the first place. Nice sleight of hand, God!

Amy - forgive my pessimism - I felt like not getting all excited but rather making the point that people who self-describe themselves as pro-life apparently aren't pro-life enough to help stop the killing. If indeed hearts are changing, then yes it is an answer to our prayers.

Here's another positive spin from Tony Perkins…

In America, New Signs of Life

Despite being firmly in control of Congress and the White House, President Obama is now officially in the minority where it matters the most–public opinion on abortion. Just days after a Pew Research poll showed an incredible boost in the percentage of pro-life Americans, folks at the Gallup Company decided to conduct a study of their own. The result? For the first time in the history of asking this question, a majority of adults (51%) in the U.S. said they consider themselves "pro-life." What a remarkable victory for a life movement that has been so battered at the hands of this President's agenda. In the face of the most aggressive, pro-abortion administration in America, the country is rallying to the defense of its tiniest members.

Through the slow burn of exporting abortion, funding experiments on human embryos, and confirmation of men and women aligned with the darkest corners of the abortion industry, President Obama's in-your-face decisions are driving uneasy Americans away–and quickly. Just last year, 50% of adults said they were "pro-choice," much higher than the 42% who define themselves that way today. And the gains for life are everywhere–in its application to public policy, political parties, and religion. When asked to what extent abortion should be legal, Gallup found that roughly the same amount of people say it should be illegal in all circumstances (23%) as legal (22%), a big change from the years before when more Americans were in favor of unrestricted abortion.

And here's one that should energize social conservatives. While some Republicans are trying to push values voters to the edge of the tent and trend moderate, the Republican grassroots are racing to embrace the right on life. Those in the party who describe themselves as "pro-life" are up a whopping 10% (from 60% to 70%) since 2008. If the GOP insists on alienating pro-lifers, it does so at its own peril! Democrats, who are nominating more pro-life House members, know this well.

One place where congressional Republicans could show some real teeth on the life issue is by drawing a line on abortion coverage in the health care debate which awaits everyone after the Memorial Day recess. Just this week, a handful of pro-life stalwarts in the House flexed some muscle on the issue by sending a letter to President Obama asking him to keep restrictions on taxpayer-funded abortion in place during the overhaul on health care. FRC will insist that if abortion coverage is not specifically excluded from health care, then it is included–and we will oppose it.

Going back to his campaign days, President Obama has claimed to converse with both sides of the abortion debate. But in this battle he can rest assured that we will look at his deeds, not his words. The President may seduce the media with talk of "abortion reduction," but he cannot speak in soothing words to the public while taking a bulldozer to the culture of life. What he fails to understand is that the courts gave this country legalized abortion–but the people never wanted it. So we have enacted firewalls to ban taxpayer funding of abortion and passed legislation to prevent the worst abuses of informed consent, conscience, and other vital principles. Decades later, this administration wants to tear apart that fragile social contract. But make no mistake. If President Obama opens the nation's deep wounds over abortion, he will be working against the majority of Americans.