Pro-abortion group: Let’s get away from discussing abortion

A survey commissioned by the National Family Planning and Reproductive Health Association (NFPRHA, which joined Planned Parenthood in opposition to physicians’ right to refuse abortion) asked whether respondents agreed with this statement:

While the current political debate focuses too much on abortion, there is a much broader discussion that needs to happen around reproductive health. We may have different opinions about abortion, so rather than continuing to argue about this one issue, our elected officials should focus on the broader context like providing greater access to birth control, teaching comprehensive sex education and improving maternal health and childbirth outcomes. These are issues that will allow us to come together.

Seventy-nine percent of respondents agreed with the statement. Given the wording, that’s no surprise; attention to “maternal health and childbirth outcomes” is something that literally no one opposes. By cleverly presenting it as a zero-sum game, the NFPRHA got Politico to print the headline “Poll: Public Tired of Abortion Debate.” The implication is obvious: politicians and public figures should just shut up about the 3500 unborn children being killed every day.

What was the goal of this survey? Are the NFPRHA and its pro-abortion allies planning to stop lobbying for abortion and refocus their efforts on legitimate gynecology, and maternal and prenatal health? Keep dreaming. If they want to discourage debate on abortion, it can only be for one reason– because they are losing that debate. In fact, a recent NPR poll found that nearly 60% of Americans believe that abortion is wrong, and that percentage is even higher for young people.

I have no doubt that the public does want a conversation about women’s health topics other than abortion. That’s bad news for the abortion movement, which survives by equating abortion with women’s health. They’ll never engage in a conversation about women’s health that doesn’t have abortion front and center. What abortion groups really want is to pursue their agenda with no debate whatsoever. We will never allow that.