Shortly before the first 2020 Democratic presidential debate this evening, MSNBC ran an ad slamming Democrats for ignoring the “consensus” on abortion. While Americans are divided by the “pro-life” and “pro-choice” labels, their opinions on the legal limits of the barbaric practice are surprisingly in tandem. March for Life Action spent six figures to put this message in front of viewers right before the debate.
The ad features six women of various ages and ethnicities who speak intermittently.
“America has consensus,” one woman says. “Consensus,” another adds.
“Eight in ten Americans agree,” says a third. “Abortion should have real legal limits,” a fourth woman explains.
“Even 6 out of 10 pro-choice Americans agree” “that abortion should happen only during the first three months of pregnancy.”
“That’s consensus,” two women say. “But it’s not the law?!” another asks. “Why? Pro-choice politicians.”
“Many of them want abortion legal right up until birth,” one woman says. “Only about 1 out of 10 Americans support this extreme position.”
“Now they want us to pay for abortion,” another adds. “OUR tax dollars.” “Almost two-thirds of us say NO.”
“It’s time for this extremism to end,” one woman says. “It’s time for OUR voices to be heard,” another agrees. “It’s time for politicians to stop working for the pro-abortion lobby,” another woman says. “And join the national consensus.”
The ad is based on 11 years of polling from the Knights of Columbus and Marist polls, finding that Americans agree on limits for the killing of an unborn baby, whatever their “pro-choice” or “pro-life” labels.
A January 2019 poll found that 75 percent of Americans say abortion should be limited to the first three months of pregnancy. This includes most who identify as Republican (92 percent), independent (78 percent), and Democrat (60 percent). It also includes more than six in ten (61 percent) who identify as “pro-choice.”
They all also found that 75 percent of Americans oppose taxpayer funding for the barbaric practice overseas, including 56 percent of Democrats. More than half (54 percent) oppose taxpayer funding for abortions in the U.S.
While “consensus” may be a strong word, these polls suggest that large majorities of Americans favor limits on abortion and taxpayer funding for it. Democrats have strongly opposed such limits, and most of the 2020 Democratic presidential candidates have been explicit in their pro-abortion positions. The six presidential candidates in the Senate voted against the Born-Alive Abortion Survivors Protection Act, which would make it illegal to kill a baby who survives a botched abortion. Many — including the current frontrunner, former Vice President Joe Biden — oppose the Hyde Amendment, the federal law preventing tax dollars from funding the barbaric practice.
These candidates are indeed far outside the majority opinion on this issue, and March for Life Action is smart to get this message out ahead of the debates.
Follow Tyler O’Neil, the author of this article, on Twitter at @Tyler2ONeil.
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