The questions were:
"I favor protecting the rights of the unborn in almost all cases" or "I am more concerned about finding cures for diseases than about protecting embryos."

So what is meant by the "rights of the unborn' is entirely ambiguous.  What rights?  At what time period?  Relative to whom or what?

I don't think these are very good questions. That may be one reason why the analysis finds a great deal of "ambivalence:"

On highly charged issues related to reproduction and research, the public expresses ambivalence.

The other commentary Catholic positions on reproductive rights that I could find in the Pew study states:

White Catholics, split evenly over this issue in 1987, are now more likely to oppose (56%) than favor (37%) stricter abortion laws.

Looking at this reminded me of a briefing I heard about a year ago. The questions that were asked were more precise, I think, and more far-reaching than the Pew study on this particular issue.  
The briefing also indicated  Catholics in general are not widely opposed to abortion.

These statistics are from my notes, as this is an unpublished, as far as I know. A private poll from 2002 concluded that: A majority of mainline Protestants and nonreligious voters favor "Roe v Wade" while just over half of the Catholics oppose the decision.

Among Catholics, 42 percent favored "Roe v. Wade" and 51 percent oppose (mainline Protestant 61/29; no religious affiliation: 80/11.)

Impressively, when asked in 2003 about this issue in a different way ("Do you agree or disagree that all men and women ... have the right ... to decide freely and responsibly the number and space of their children?") people in general were strongly agreed, in favor of individual decision-making, and that extended across religious views. Among all, 88 percent agreed with the statement, 10 percent disagreed.

This sentiment (last question above) is shared across religious affiliation; among Protestants: 90 percent agree; 7 percent disagree; among Catholics: 85 percent agree, 13 percent disagree.

On another question, among Catholics, 57 percent agreed that while they might not choose to have an abortion, they would not stand in the way of permitting someone else to decide for herself.

Other questions and answers bear similar results.

So being Catholic alone is not a predictor of position, and, as you say, there is a good deal of complexity in the matter.

 In fact, Justice Anthony Kennedy, who is Catholic, has been on the moderate side on many abortion cases. I wrote an article last summer that described the pivotal role of Justice Kennedy.

But the Catholic bishops allied lobbying organizations from National Right to Life to American Life League and Culture of Life Foundation and others, have managed to press a minority anti-abortion view into the fore as the only acceptable view.

Kissling's point, it seems to me, is that too many justices who hold, consciously or unconsciously, the views of the Catholic bishops and hierarchy can alter and affect the rights of all people and tilt them toward a particular religious view. And, yet, this is being little discussed publicly.

by cyncooper on Mon Jan 30, 2006 at 01:19:18 AM EST
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