A recent analysis of abortion attitudes byThe New York Times came to the right conclusion: The divide on how Americans feel about abortion is much smaller than partisan politics would have us believe.
But there’s a bigger idea that the piece in the Times — and the poll it relies on — missed: All too often, we’re still asking the wrong questions when it comes to gauging public opinion on abortion. We’re too focused on questions at the margins — death versus abortion, rape, and incest or abortion under all circumstances or no circumstances. These questions do little to illuminate the reality of most women’s lives and the range of feelings people have about abortions that happen in the real world.
Much of the piece centers on how Americans feel about two questions. The first is whether a woman who needs an abortion to save her life should be able to get one. Why are we still asking this? Is whether a woman should be forced to die rather than have an abortion really still up for debate when it comes to public opinion? I don’t think so.