Some feminists have taken comfort from a new AP poll which has been widely reported as finding that “59 percent [of respondents] say Bush should choose a [Supreme Court] nominee who would uphold the 1973 Roe v. Wade <\/i>decision that legalized abortion… 31 percent, said they want a nominee who would overturn the decision…”<\/p>\n
Unfortunately, the poll itself was inaccurately worded, as Eugene Volokh reports<\/a>:<\/p>\n “As you may know, President Bush may have the opportunity to appoint several new justices to the U.S. Supreme Court during his second term. The 1973 Supreme Court ruling called Roe v. Wade made abortion in the first three months of pregnancy legal. Do you think President Bush should nominate Supreme Court justices who would uphold the Roe v. Wade decision, or nominate justices who would overturn the Roe v. Wade decision?”<\/i><\/p><\/blockquote>\n But wait \u2014 Roe <\/i>didn’t just make abortion in the first three months of pregnancy legal. It also made it legal at any time before viability (limiting government regulation to that related to protecting “maternal health”); the Court said viability would be at about six or seven months (though over time, the line has moved up a bit, as the 1992 Casey decision recognized). I suspect that such months-four-to-six abortions would be considerably more controversial than ones in months one through three.<\/div>\n Another poll shows that 66% favor abortion being generally legal in the first three months, but only 25% favor legal abortion for months four through six.<\/p>\n Of course, reproductive rights aren’t right or wrong based on what polls say. Still, it’s unfortunate that this poll was so badly worded.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Some feminists have taken comfort from a new AP poll which has been widely reported as finding that “59 percent [of respondents] say Bush should choose a [Supreme Court] nominee who would uphold the 1973 Roe v. Wade decision that … Continue reading