Do you think more women will vote D because of today's abortion vote?

[AP]

Poll question: Do you think more women will vote D because of today's abortion vote?

Which one of these scenarios is most likely?

[Lydia Leftcoast]

1. How about none of the above?

Some women might decide that neither party is looking out for their interests.

(Abortion is not one of my major issues, so I don't feel that way, but I can imagine some women saying, "A plague on both your houses."

[Mel]

5. your right

the democrats that voted for it will feel the heat from the women your speaking of I do think they will not vote for those Democrats but they won't vote for a repuke either.
To be honest with you I'm sick of this issue being used it's a wedge issue my deal is keep your laws off my body. I think the pukes took this up to keep their base happy and will yap about you don't won't those evil ole' Demoncrats to undo the work we've done so vote for us.....meanwhile the USSC is going to strike it down as they did before and the pukes know it!

[mitchum]

2. It will help Dems today, but...

the repubs. are going to flip flop on abortion within the next ten years (in order to close the gender gap) It may sound crazy now, but it will happen.

[calm_blue_ocean]

8. The Repubs already have flip-flopped on abortion . . .

they are just trying to hide this fact from some of their constituents.

Making a fetish out of partial birth abortion is one of their obfuscatory tactics.

Passing a clearly-unconstitutional partial birth ban (when they could have easily written the ban to accord with Roe v Wade) is another tactic on their part.

They may think they are clever now, but I believe they are due to get clobbered from both sides on the abortion issue -- maybe as soon as 2004.

Final note: there is no gender gap on the abortion issue, as shown in opinion polls. Female and male opinion have quite similar distributions on the abortion issue.

[jiacinto]

3. It won't make any difference either way

nt

[Maple]

4. I don't think it will make

a toss of difference...because no one apparently knows there is no such thing as a partial birth abortion...and the only reason anything close to it is performed is to save the mother's life.

Done in less than 1% of pregnancies, and only as a last resort.

The Republicans have made this issue their own, by re-branding it and making it sound quite different than it actually is.

[RandomUser]

6. None of the above -- makes no difference

There are women who will always vote Republican (ann coulter). There are women who will always vote Dem. The ones who are concerned about abortion rights are in the Dem corner already anyway. And the partial birth abortion ban -- as described and spun by the republicans -- seems to be well supported by most people, including women. The other women who don't bother much with politics don't know about this new ban and won't care because it will not affect their lives, since it occurs in less than 1% of pregnancies and has no effect on the current abortion debate that centers on early term abortions.

Partial birth abortion bans are more of a symbolic thing rather than anything that will have a measureable impact in society or the abortion debate.

[AP]

7. I don't agree with this. I think that, for many women, this isn't the top

issue. But a situation like this will move it up to the top of the list, so that some women who voted Republican for other reasons -- eg, national security -- will vote Democratic instead.

[RandomUser]

9. That will depend on the spin and coverage

If Democrats can successfully convey this as an assault on Roe v. Wade and inject a sense of urgency and menace, then you may be right. If Republicans can continue to describe partial birth as a scenario where the fetus is almost fully formed and can live outside of the womb, and that to extract it one must stick a scapel inside and chop the body up to extract it, then I think you'll find the majority of Americans and women will support the partial birth abortion ban, as they have when given this description and polled (remember reading it somewhere, can't find reference).

Morely likely, this issue will not be taken up and give much national priority or coverage when placed in competition with other news stories. It will fall by the wayside, or not gather much steam. And it won't influence women's decisions much because they either won't hear about this issue, or won't care because it will probably never affect them or anyone they know.

[RandomUser]

11. Thanks for adding this option to the poll (n/t)

no text

[AP]

12. The media will not touch this because they know it hurts Republicans.

Might be interesting to see what they say on The View tomorrow.

[Resistance Is Futile]

10. Turnout killer

The bote will kill turnout as it has been made very clear that neither party is interested in protecting womens' rights.

The Dems might pick up some pro-death/anti-choice supporters in states where senators sold out but this really is not the kind of support anyone should want or brag about getting.

[SoCalDem]

13. This procedure is so rare, that it will have little impact..

the type of problem that this procedure addresses, is the end stage of pregnancy "train wrecks".. Anencephaly (sp)(lack of brain, beyond brain stem) or a major malformation of the fetus, that was previously undetected, and yes even conjoined twins...

The fact that politicians would meddle into a devastating trauma like that is despicable..

Every woman who faces this does NOT want to end the pregnancy.. She wants a healthy happy baby, and when she gets the bad news from the doctor, she just wants it ...O V E R ...and fast.. Why should she be forced to carry a doomed baby for another 2 or 3 months, until she goes into labor, only to deliver a dead or dying baby???

The trauma of that lasts a lifetime..

A doctor (OB-GYN for 36 years) told me once, that in days past , when babies were born at home, there were times when the doctors just did not cut the cord, or assist the baby in breathing.. They would just tell the mother that the baby was stillborn, and it was for the best.. It was a family decision, and no one was the wiser.. The family went on to have healthy children after that, and though they grieved for their lost child, they were not treated like criminals..


Ask an older fanily member how common stillbiths were "back in the day"..

[AP]

14. Abortion isn't an issue for women because they do it all the time. It's an

issue because it goes to the core of the question of whether a woman lives for subject to the body and biology, or whether she can control her life and destiny.

You don't ever need to have an aborition or get pregnant to sense the implications of not being in control of your body because of the political whim of a bunch of old white men.

[RandomUser]

15. Rarity and degrees of freedom

You're right about it being about degrees of freedoms granted. But the rarity impacts that degree of freedom. The more rare it is, the less she will ever be in a situation where her degrees of freedom will be impacted by this ban. It won't be much of an issue not because it is rare, but because it won't pragmatically impact her degrees of freedom -- and the rarity is the reason why it won't.

[SoCalDem]

16. Exactly.. But these old men act like

EVERY woman who gets pregnant will wake up one morning, and decide to kill her baby because she's tired of being "fat"..

It's always about controlling a woman's reproduction with these guys, and they twist the message until they get their way..

All I can say, is that girls who are about 13 now, will have a very dangerous passage to adulthood..:(

[tlb]

17. People who take sides because of abortion did so long ago.

This changes none of that.