ABORTION LOSING SUPPORT

                                                                                                   Vol. XII, No.3, March 1999

A poll conducted by a new group, Center for Gender Equality, headed by a former head of Planned Parenthood, Faye Wattleton, has disappointed its sponsors. Seems they found 53% of American women believe abortion should be allowed only after rape or incest or to save the life of the mother, or not at all. 70% want more restrictions on abortion; only 28% said abortion should be generally available. In UCLA's annual survey of freshmen, abortion support dropped for the sixth year in a row: in 1990 it was 64.9%; now it's 50.9%

Miss Wattleton's poll shows 44% of women think divorce should be harder to attain and 52% oppose the distribution of condoms in schools. And Yankelovich reports only 37% of Americans think pre-marital sex is "acceptable in today's society.

Likely contributors to these more conservative views are: (1) AIDS and other sexually transmitted diseases, (2) dissatisfaction with promiscuous sex, (3) experience with the effects of divorce by both parents and - perhaps especially - children of divorce, and (4) a more serious interest in and commitment to religion.

[Condensed from The Washington Times 27 Feb. 1999, p. D8.].