Do Americans really support abortion?

Another national survey of Americans shows that the conservative-majority U.S. Supreme Court subverted democracy in reversing Roe v. Wade and is actively thwarting the will of the people. That’s the accepted narrative, right? In a new Harvard CAPS/Harris poll, 55 percent of the country say they oppose the overturning of Roe and 45 percent support the Dobbs decision, which now allows states to set abortion policy.

Except that if you look deeper at the polling data, you’ll discover that Americans are not as alarmed about a post-Roe world as the screaming national headlines and 6-inch cable news chyrons would have you believe. And this is consistent with the findings of several other national surveys.

For instance, the Harvard CAPS/Harris poll shows that 72 percent of Americans, including 60 percent of Democrats and 70 percent of independents, favor protections for the unborn after 15 weeks of gestation. Roe, of course, didn’t allow for such protections. Surprisingly, the same survey shows that 31 percent of Democrats support the court’s decision to overturn Roe. In another survey, conducted by Lifeway Research, 35 percent of Americans say that life begins at conception, while another 28 percent believe life begins at the first detectable heartbeat—which means a stunning 63 percent see humanity in the womb. Does this mean that Americans have a clear and consistent ethic of life? No. But it does show that the activist base of modern progressivism is at odds with mainstream Americans.

For pro-life activists, these recent polls are affirmation that our patient and persistent work to create a culture of life is making a significant difference, especially in changing minds. Multiple generations of people have grown up with ultrasound images from the earliest points of development pinned to their refrigerators. It also shows how separated mainstream democratic policy and much of the coverage surrounding abortion is from reality. The bill to “codify Roe” that passed in the U.S. House of Representatives but failed in the U.S. Senate and was pushed by Democratic Party leadership would have eliminated the very state-level restrictions favored by most Americans and would have allowed abortion up until the moment of birth. While it is true that the views of the majority of Americans are not yet as pro-life as we would like, we can take comfort in knowing that far from being fringe, the pro-life movement has real support. This, despite overwhelming media bias in favor of promoting abortion.

And when it comes to the views of the Supreme Court, the subject of near-daily derision by pundits and politicians for its reversal of Roe, the American people don’t share the opinion of many journalists and Democratic politicians. According to the Harvard CAPS/Harris poll, 63 percent say the court is legitimate and 59 percent say that it is wrong for politicians to declare otherwise. And the Roe reversal will not be a big motivator in the coming midterm elections, either. Only 36 percent of voters say it will make them more likely to vote Republican and another 36 percent say it will make them more likely to vote for a Democrat.

This should cause pro-life Christians to take heart that a growing number of our fellow Americans are beginning to come closer to the truth we see in Scripture, that every human life is knit by a loving Creator in the womb and is stamped with the image of God. Public opinion should never shape our ethics, but it should be a reminder that our pro-life convictions are no longer the cultural albatross they once were, even if the commanding heights of media and pop culture still subscribe to pro-abortion orthodoxy.

Still, these public surveys should sober us as well, for they remind us that there are still millions of Americans who have yet to see the dignity of the most defenseless humans in society. This and succeeding generations need to hear our careful arguments for the dignity of both mother and baby and see in our churches and communities alternatives to the empty promises of the abortion industry. The end of Roe is a triumph, but it’s not the end of our public witness. For lifting our voices on behalf of those who cannot yet speak is still a duty we must not abandon.