Selon un sondage commandé par la Conférence des évêques des Etats-Unis, quatre adultes sur cinq (82%) pensent que l’avortement devrait être illégal en toutes circonstances (11%) ou en accepteraient une limitation légale (71%).
38% des Américains limiteraient l’avortement aux cas de viol, d’inceste ou de danger pour la vie de la mère tandis que 33% limiteraient l’avortement aux 3 ou aux 6 premiers mois.
Seulement 9% des Américains pensent que l’avortement devrait être légal pour n’importe quelle raison à n’importe quel moment de la grossesse, un chiffre faible dont se réjouit Deirdre McQuade, « Assistant Director for Policy & Communications at the USCCB’s Secretariat of Pro-Life Activities ». Elle rappelle qu’il s’agit de l’état actuel de la législation, une des plus libérales aux monde, depuis les arrêts Roe v. Wade and Doe v. Bolton de 1973.
Faute de temps pour effectuer la traduction, nous vous livrons la suite en VO :
The survey of 2,341 adults, conducted online December 10-12, also found that laws limiting or regulating abortion enjoyed support as high as 95 percent among those expressing support or opposition to the six kinds of laws examined in the survey:
- 95 percent favor laws ensuring that abortions be performed only by licensed physicians
- 88 percent favor informed consent laws (i.e., that require abortion providers to inform women of potential risks to their physical and psychological health and about alternatives to abortion)
- 76 percent favor laws that protect doctors and nurses from being forced to perform or refer for abortions against their will
- 73 percent favor laws that require giving parents the chance to be involved in their minor daughter’s abortion decision
- 68 percent favor laws against partial-birth abortion (i.e., aborting a child already partially delivered from the mother), and
- 63 percent favor laws preventing the use of taxpayer funds for abortions.
« Support for these measures cuts across ‘pro-life’ and ‘pro-choice’ positions. Over a third (35 percent) of the small minority who said abortion should be legal for any reason throughout pregnancy nevertheless supported three or more of the six laws presented, » McQuade said.
« This research indicates how out of touch pro-abortion groups are with mainstream America, » McQuade said.
« These same widely-supported, constitutionally valid measures, some of which have been proven effective in reducing abortion rates, are now seriously threatened by abortion advocates and their allies in Congress, » McQuade said. « On behalf of children and their mothers, we will have to fight to keep such laws in place. »
« Pro-abortion groups have already sent a comprehensive 55-page blueprint for their agenda to the incoming Administration, » McQuade said. « But their agenda—including publicly-funded abortions, passage of the so-called ‘Freedom of Choice Act’ (FOCA), and attacking the Hyde amendment and other longstanding pro-life provisions in appropriations bills—won’t sell in the general public. »
« Most people agree we should work to reduce abortions, but you can’t reduce abortions by promoting abortion and eliminating all the policies that have proven effective in reducing abortions, » McQuade said. « The U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops will oppose all such threats to human life in whatever manner they are proposed. »
Addendum : Daniel Hamiche évoque ce sondage ici.



Le Cardinal-archévêque de Chicago, Mgr Francis George,
The official Statement of the Vote has been released by the Secretary of State. Proposition 8 passed by a margin of 52.3% to 47.7%. We won by a margin of 600,000 votes: 7,001,084 to 6,401,483. To provide some context for this vote:
William J. Federer, a Missourian, is one of the most cheerful people I have met. Despite this, Mr. Federer’s writing always has a serious message. His latest book is entitled “Endangered Speeches.” In it he traces the effort to make certain that preachers were removed from the political process in the 20th Century. Mr. Federer points out that prior to 1913 preachers never gave the Internal Revenue Service or their 501(c) (3) tax-exempt status a thought because there was no mechanism that applied to them. From 1913 until 1954 most preachers simply ignored IRS and there was no reason for them to be concerned.
Pour la plupart des observateurs, le choix de Sarah Palin comme candidate républicaine à la vice-présidence a été une surprise totale. Mais pas pour Adam Brickley. Ce jeune républicain de 21 ans a lancé le site Palinforvp en… février 2007.