Page 41 - Heavenly Signs III by Mel Gable

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would likely have been used to challenge Roe v. Wade. On February 15, 2012, the Virginia House of Delegates
passed House Bill 1 in a vote of 66-32 which effectively outlaws all Virginia abortions by declaring that the rights
of persons apply from the moment sperm and egg unite. It also passed a second bill in a 63-36 vote, which
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requires women to have a trans-vaginal ultrasound before undergoing abortions.

In addition, some states have sought to ban abortion by means of an amendment to the state constitution. Three
of them have already reached the ballot for a vote. Colorado citizens voted on Amendment 48 on November 4,
2008, and it failed to pass. A similar initiative, Amendment 62, made the Colorado ballot on November 2, 2010,
where it failed again. On November 8, 2011 Initiative 26 appeared on the ballot, where it was also defeated. All
three of these amendments made it to the ballot through a citizen initiative process, as opposed to being referred
to the ballot by their state legislatures.

Other states are considering personhood amendments banning abortion, some through legislative methods and
others through citizen initiative campaigns. Among these states are Florida, Ohio, Georgia, Texas, and Arkansas.
Voter opposition to these ballot initiatives has proven to be far stronger than the support, despite the fact that
American citizens poll as being much more evenly divided on the issue of abortion. Is our government then truly
representing the people in this matter of abortion?

Statistics on Abortion

Primary abortion statistics in the U.S. are available from two sources, privately from The Guttmacher Institute
(AGI) and publicly from the Centers for Disease Control (CDC). In 2009, which is the most recent year for
which CDC data is available, California, Delaware, Maryland, and New Hampshire did not provide abortion
reports to the federal government. Since California has not complied with CDC requests for abortion data in
many years and since California accounts for more abortions than any other state in the U.S. Therefore, CDC
totals are routinely incomplete. The CDC ordinarily develops its annual report on the basis of data received from
52 central health agencies, which include 50 states plus New York City and the District of Columbia. Guttmacher
Institute gets its numbers from direct surveys of abortionists conducted every few years. Because of these
different methods of data collection, Guttmacher Institute has consistently obtained higher counts than the
CDC. Nevertheless, because increases and decreases in CDC and Guttmacher Institute numbers have usually
roughly tracked each other, both sources are thought to provide useful information on abortion trends and
statistics. Using Guttmacher Institute figures through 2008, estimating 1,212,400 abortions for 2009 through
2011, and factoring in the possible 3% undercount Guttmacher Institute estimates for its own figures, the total
number of abortions performed in the U.S. since 1973 equals 54,559,615. 55

According to Gallup's long-time polling on abortion, the majority of Americans are not strictly Pro-Life or Pro-
Choice - it depends upon circumstances. Gallup polling from 1996 to 2009 consistently reveals that when asked
the question, “Do you think abortions should be legal under any circumstances, legal only under certain circumstances, or illegal in
all circumstances”? Americans repeatedly answer “legal only under certain circumstances.” According to the poll, in any
given year 48-57% say legal only under certain circumstances (for 2009, 57%), 21-34% say legal under any
circumstances (for 2009, 21%), and 13-19% illegal in all circumstances (for 2009, 18%), with 1-7% having no
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opinion (for 2009, 4%).

54 Lewis, Bob. The Associated Press, "Va. House GOP muscles through abortion curbs," Feb 15, 2012.

55 "Abortion". Gallup Poll. Gallup.com. pp. 2. Archived from the original on 13 May 2010.