Pro-Choice Vs Anti-Abortion -- For Whom the Poll Tolls

In line with numerous polls that show stagnant or slightly declining support for abortion rights, the numbers got worse between the 2001 and 2003 surveys. Yet other polls from January 2003 showed much more support for abortion rights--an NBC/Wall Street Journal poll found 59 percent agreeing that abortion should be left up to a woman and her doctor, up from 57 percent in 1990. In an ABC/Washington Post poll, 57 percent agreed abortion should be legal in all or most cases; 56 percent said it should be as easy as now to get an abortion, or easier. A Gallup poll had 53 percent saying Roe was a good thing--versus only 30 percent saying it was a bad thing.

"You have to win the hearts and minds of the people," Wattleton told me. "And that takes place in the public arena." The anti-choicers have been all over that arena for years. "Progress and Perils" shows how effective they've been.