We are not in good company when it comes to the national US policy on abortion. The Family Research Council published a report recently that documented only seven countries which currently allow “abortion on demand” up through 9 months of pregnancy.
The Seven Countries
The Seven Countries who allow abortions up through nine months of pregnancy include:
- Canada
- China
- Vietnam
- North Korea
- South Korea
- United States
In addition, “only three European nations allow for abortion after 15 weeks” and, around the globe, “77 countries outlaw abortion completely or only allow abortion where the woman’s physical health is at risk.”
This Article provides a brief overview of the US Abortion law and offers a map of the world documenting various policies by country.
Where do Americans Stand in General
In December of last year, the Supreme Court ruled that they would not override the Texas law which made abortion illegal after the 6th week. They also left open the option of a future law suit brought by Abortion Clinics agains Texas. As this controversy is expected to continue to escalate, it is worthwhile to consider what Americans believe about abortion. Largely sumarized from a Forbes article published in November of 2021, below are some highlights:
- According to Gallup, 80% of Americans support abortion in certain circumstances. Further, 47% of those polled felt abortion, in general, was “morally acceptable”.
- Pew Research evidently found 59% of American adults believe abortion should be legal.
- A Quinnipiac poll showed 63% of those questioned felt that abortion should be legal in most cases.
- Associated Press completed a poll in June of last year and found that 87% support abortion in situations where the woman’s life is in danger. Further, 84% supported abortion where rape or incest was involved. Finally, 74% supported abortion if the child would be born with a life-threatening illness.
Where do Americans Stand on Late-Term Abortion
- The Associated Press poll found that 61% of Americans thought abortion should be available during the first trimester. However, support drops to 34% in the second trimester and only 19% in the third.
How do Americans split by Demographics
- Based on the Quinnipiac poll, conducted in September of 2021, Democrats (89%) were more likely to support legal abortion in most cases vs. Republicans (39%).
- Pew Research found that Americans who considered themselves religious (82%) were considerably more likely to oppose abortion, while 82% of the non-religious felt abortion should be legal. Further, research from Pew showed 77 percent of White evangelical Protestants believed abortion should be illegal. Sixty-two percent of women want abortion to be legal versus 56% of men. Legal abortions were supported by the majority of Black (67%), Asian (68%), White (57%), and Hispanic (58%) Americans. Research by age showed 18-29 (67%), 30-49 (61%), 50-64 (53%), and 65 and up (55%) believed abortion should be legal. College grads (68%), some college (61%), high school or less (50%) desire abortion to be legal.
- All-In-Together’s Texas poll, published in September of 2021, found 36% of parents with resident kids opposed a near-total abortion ban versus 54.9% without kids.
- Americans in the Northeast were the most supportive of women’s rights, with a Post/ABC poll results showing 71% want the Supreme Court to uphold Roe v. Wade, dropping to 66% in the West, 58% in the Midwest, and 53% in the South. Sixty-six percent of Urban residents are more likely to support Roe v. Wade verses only 56% and 57% respectively in suburban or rural areas. Further, the Post/ABC poll found 59% of those earning less than $50,000 per year wanting the court to uphold the law, versus 62% of those making between $50,000-$100,000, and 65% of those earning more than $100,000.
- Americans’ support for abortion falls behind many other countries, with the November Forbes article finding 66% of Americans believe abortion should be permitted in at least some circumstances, versus a global average of 71%. Support for abortion is highest in Sweden (88% support), the Netherlands (85%) and France (81%), while the countries whose abortion views rank lower than the U.S. are Brazil, India, South Africa, Colombia, Mexico, Turkey, Peru, and Malaysia.
Summary
A majority of American’s desire abortion to be legal in America. This is especially true in situations regarding times when the woman’s life or rape are involved. However, once the child becomes viable in the second and especially in the third trimester, American acceptance of abortion becomes unpopular. By the second trimester, the mom is feeling life within her, the biological sex of the child has been determined, and the baby becomes viable to be born.
Poll results like the ones above show, in very gross terms, the opinions of the American public. They do not take into consideration the reality of the physical and emotional toll an abortion takes on the individuals who elect to exercise their rights.
The Biblical Christian theology on this topic is clear. Human live begins at conception. Abortion is taking a life.
- Psalm 139:13-16 For you formed my inward parts;you knitted me together in my mother’s womb.I praise you, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made. Wonderful are your works; my soul knows it very well. My frame was not hidden from you, when I was being made in secret, intricately woven in the depths of the earth. Your eyes saw my unformed substance; in your book were written, every one of them, the days that were formed for me, when as yet there was none of them.
- Jeremiah 1:5 “Before I formed you in the womb I knew you, and before you were born I consecrated you; I appointed you a prophet to the nations.”
- Job 31:15 Did not he who made me in the womb make him? And did not one fashion us in the womb?
- Psalms 22:10 On you was I cast from my birth, and from my mother’s womb you have been my God.
- Exodus 21:22 “When men strive together and hit a pregnant woman, so that her children come out, but there is no harm, the one who hit her shall surely be fined, as the woman’s husband shall impose on him, and he shall pay as the judges determine.
The cases of rape, insect, and putting the future mother in deadly harm, are extremely rare. In the vast majority of situations, abortion is the result of an unwanted child. God’s will for the value of every life needs to take precedence over the rights of a woman to make a decision on the life of their unborn child. However, it is incumbent on society to provide support for the mom-to-be or loving alternatives for the child once born. Our country remanins in bad company under its present abortion-on-demand policy.
