Published in 1997, the book may have been compiled a few months early, since more recent polls not included in the study show some slight but significant movement favoring the pro-life side. In no small measure that upswing is a result of the enormously significant debate over partial-birth abortion. For years, one could ask the same questions and pretty much expect the same answers. However, recent polls by both groups show these numbers changing significantly. The Gallup organization, which has tracked this issue even longer, shows fewer people ready to accept the current policy of abortion on demand today than at any time since the 1970s, when abortion was just beginning to become a part of the national experience.
More people consider abortion to be murder.
The reason for these shifts is not hard to fathom. Before the Supreme Court abruptly overturned the abortion laws of all 50 states in Roe v. Wade in 1973, there was a general presumption in favor of life in the United States. Polls taken in the 1970s confirm this. The University of Michigan conducted two polls in 1980. The shift in opinion between the two polls is astounding.