Breaking, Gallup: “Pro-choice” Americans at record low – 41%
Fabulous news from Gallup, today:
The 41% of Americans who now identify themselves as “pro-choice” is down from 47% last July and is one percentage point below the previous record low in Gallup trends, recorded in May 2009. Fifty percent now call themselves “pro-life,” one point shy of the record high, also from May 2009.
So while the number of Americans considering themselves pro-life has remained steady since 2009, the number calling themselves pro-choice has dived. Click to enlarge:
Continuing on with Gallup story:
Gallup began asking Americans to define themselves as pro-choice or pro-life on abortion in 1995, and since then, identification with the labels has shifted from a wide lead for the pro-choice position in the mid-1990s, to a generally narrower lead for “pro-choice” — from 1998 through 2008 — to a close division between the two positions since 2009. However, in the last period, Gallup has found the pro-life position significantly ahead on two occasions, once in May 2009 and again today. It remains to be seen whether the pro-life spike found this month proves temporary, as it did in 2009, or is sustained for some period.
Decline in “Pro-Choice” Views Seen Across Partisan Groups
The decline in Americans’ self-identification as “pro-choice” is seen across the three U.S. political groups.
Since 2001, the majority of Republicans have consistently taken the pro-life position, but by a gradually increasing margin over “pro-choice.” That gap expanded further this year, with the percentage of Republicans identifying as pro-life increasing to 72% from 68% last May, and those identifying as pro-choice dropping to 22% from 28%. Still, Republicans’ current views are similar to those found in 2009.
That is a huge majority, which should, of course, be a confirmation to Republicans in political leadership to carry forth the pro-life mantle with great party support.
More huge news from Gallup about Independents:
The percentage of political independents identifying as pro-choice is 10 points lower today than in May 2011, while the percentage pro-life is up by six points. As a result, pro-lifers now outnumber pro-choicers among this important swing political group for only the second time since 2001, with the first occurring in 2009.
More broadly, since 2009, independents have been fairly closely divided between the two abortion positions, whereas for most of the 2001-2008 period, significantly more independents were pro-choice than pro-life.
Even among Democrats, the pro-abortion gains seen last year are more than wiped out. Pro-life support increased 7% in one year, while abortion support has dropped by 10%. Per Gallup:
Democrats’ views on abortion have changed the least over the past 12 years, with roughly 60% calling themselves pro-choice and about a third pro-life. Democrats’ identification as pro-choice was above this range in May 2011, but has returned to about 60% in the current poll.
Why? Gallup thinks all the attention on abortion has had the effect of turning people away from the “pro-choice” label:
Since 2009, Americans have been closely divided in their identification with the labels most commonly used by each side of the abortion debate, although twice in that time period, including today, the percentage identifying as pro-life has been significantly higher than the pro-choice percentage. This represents a clear shift from 2001 to 2008, when Gallup most often found pro-choice adherents in the plurality.
Abortion has been the focal point of some prominent news stories in the past year, including congressional efforts to eliminate federal funding for Planned Parenthood because of its abortion services, as well as to investigate Planned Parenthood’s financial practices. There was also a widely reported controversy over the Susan G. Komen for the Cure cancer foundation’s temporary decision to suspend grants to Planned Parenthood pending the outcome of that congressional investigation. And the ongoing conflict between the U.S. Roman Catholic Church and the Obama administration over mandated health insurance for contraception is partially related to abortion, in that some contraception methods, such as the “morning-after pill,” can halt the development of a fertilized egg.
Whether any of these controversies is related to the shift in Americans’ identification as pro-choice or pro-life is not clear. However, it is notable that while Americans’ labeling of their position has changed, their fundamental views on the issue have not. If the advantage for the “pro-life” position persists in future Gallup updates on abortion, these would seem to be important factors to look at to help explain the shift in labeling.
Looks like Komen bet wrong when aligning itself back with Planned Parenthood.
Gallup’s latter point may or may not be true. According to its poll, Americans have slowly been coming to the conclusion that abortion should be curtailed “under certain” circumstances, while activists on both ends remain staunch. That said, the numbers on our end have been creeping up, while the number of hardcore abortion proponents has remained flat:
[HT: Susie of Pro Life in TN]
Gallup needs to define “prolife” and “prochoice” before asking the question. There are many of those individuals who consider themselves “prochoice” when it comes to rape and/or incest exceptions. In fact, in most polls I have seen the past 5 years, over 2/3 of those polled DO NOT think abortion should be outlawed or criminalized in all cases.
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Awww. Someone’s got a case of teh butthurt.
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If you do xalisae, then I’d recommend not thinking so hard today.
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The “pro-life”/”pro-choice” titles have been around for 30 or so years. I think they’re pretty well-defined already. I mean, who doesn’t know what they mean?
Anyway, yay!
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Wow. Talk about not thinking hard…it’s not too difficult to infer that I was talking about you. Perhaps you should put a little cream on your butthurt, then mosey off to Sylvan Learning Center so they can help you with your reading comprehension.
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X, he is not even troll-worthy.
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Some Guy, not everyone knows what they mean. Many people think “prolife” means more than being in favor of protecting the unborn. Like, protecting those who are born, too. Like opposition to most wars and the death penalty. Of course, maybe that’s why more people consider themselves “prolife” now–because they think it includes more than just being antiabortion.
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Wow, this is great news! Does someone with a greater knowledge of pro-life history have a theory as to what was going on during those temporary spikes? Or were they just sort of random?
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And, if you look at the last chart, a total of 77% believe abortion should be allowed under certain or any conditions, compared to 20% who believe abortion should be illegal in all circumstances.
So, really, 77% are “prochoice” to some extent, compared to 20% who are “prolife”.
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You know, even granting you your assumption, it doesn’t explain why fewer people are labeling themselves pro-choice.
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Jason, the issue would be what the trend shows over the years where the questions are consistently using the same terms. You could assert that the balance of people who understand them has changed, or that what the words mean to people has changed. But an assertion to that effect would require evidence or a rationally sound explanation of why you think it might be so.
Otherwise, you know, it’s just “your opinion.” Right?
Scientifically, keeping the variables of wording the same for the polls over the years, and keeping the vocabulary the same, and doing the basic sampling due diligence pollsters do well, one is controlling for variables and the results are the best one may expect. Perhaps we should defer to the wishful thinking of trolls, but that case would also need to be made and would be at least as difficult as whatever rational argument such trolls won’t make on this matter anyway, so hey. ;-)
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Some Guy, I suppose the point in all of this is that it is premature to get all excited about less people are considering themselves “prochoice”. I have known a few women who considered themselves to be “prolife” until they had unplanned pregnancies, then they got abortions.
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So really, 77% are “prochoice” to some extent, when another human being is involved, compared to
20%100% who are “prolife”, when it’s their own body being subjected to grievous violence.There Jason – fixed that for you.
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And, Some Guy, it appears if one disagrees with an issue where the majority of the posters are patronizing each other, that individual is considered a “troll”.
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@Some Guy: Inorite? “Lots of people think being pro-life goes beyond opposing abortion!” Which means they would still oppose abortion and answer the polling questions accordingly. The central issue of the poll remains unaffected.
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The majority view is to outlaw abortion except in cases of rape, incest, or to save the life of the mother, and those “hard cases” constitute no more than 5% of abortions performed.
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So, Alice, three cheers for your excitement about the polling data.
1.2 abortions will still be performed this year.
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I have known a few women who considered themselves to be “prolife” until they had unplanned pregnancies, then they got abortions.
Good thing you came here then, Jason. You’ll get to meet a lot of women like me. I didn’t know there were such things as “Pro-Life” and “Pro-Choice” until I had an unexpected crisis pregnancy. After having my daughter, I’m staunchly Pro-Life.
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Hey Jason, I’m going to go up to the headquarters of NARAL and tell them I think abortion should only be legal in the cases of rape, incest and to save the life of the mother (this is not what I believe, but bear with me), and then I’m going to tell them that I am therefore prochoice. Let’s see how they react.
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jason: “it appears if one disagrees with an issue where the majority of the posters are patronizing each other, that individual is considered a ‘troll’.”
As if you didn’t have a history of trolling that informs the conversation in threads where you’re disagreeing.
You earned the epithet by being a troll frequently — not by dissenting in this thread.
That’s something else trolls do — pretend that others’ failures, and not their own, earn the descriptor.
Anyway, Jason, it’s just your opinion that you’re not a troll. Right?
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The question is, “With respect to the abortion issue do you consider yourself to be pro-choice or pro-life?”
(emphasis added)
Seems pretty straightforward to me.
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Hey, if 1.2 abortions are performed this year, that means it’s down over a million from last year, and out of two attempts, only one was successful. I’d call that a win for pro-lifers.
Oh, unless you made a really hilarious typo, that is. That would be terribly embarrassing for you, wouldn’t it? Gee, I hope that wasn’t the case.
…Look dude, you tried to make the claim that the polling terms were confusing. That claim has been debunked. Admit it and move on or present a stronger counter-claim. Going all, “Well, people are still getting abortions, so there!” is just you being whiney. It’s not impressive, it contributes nothing to your argument, and it’s petty.
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Likely we’ll see a spike in abortionistas requesting that Gallup use their new pet phrase “reproductive justice.”
I’m very tired of abortion supporters using Orwellian word-butchering to euphemize murder. They won’t “draw and quarter” an adult, of course, but if done to a baby they call it “reproductive justice” or “choice” or “compassion” or “civility.”
Wanna know what I call it? DOUBLEPLUS UNGOOD.
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Alice, check your figures again for last year. There have never been more than 2 million elective abortions performed in the U.S. in any year.
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…
Yep. Not really much else to say on that one.
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Ninek, you forgot those who call abortion a “parenting decision”.
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Alice, check your figures again for last year. There have never been more than 2 million elective abortions performed in the U.S. in any year.
Reading comprehension is not your strong suit, is it?
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”Many people think “prolife” means more than being in favor of protecting the unborn. Like, protecting those who are born, too. Like opposition to most wars and the death penalty. ”
Okay, Jason, under the expanded definition that is anti war and anti death penalty, are you pro life? s
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Jason – I agree completely – the question should be “knowing that being pro-choice means supporting the dismemberment and indiscriminate killing of innocent children in the womb, knowing that those innocent children are pain capable, knowing that it means supporting the killing of baby girls specifically BECAUSE they are girls, knowing that it means targeting minorities in their neighborhoods and knowing that it means making everyone pay for it regardless of their religious beliefs, are you pro-choice?” THEN it will be clear to everyone what exactly it means. I am SO glad you are here to advocate for truth, bro!
For all the non-trolls, I love those “I am the Pro-Life generation” signs by the tens of thousands in DC in January! And I love hearing Kristen Hawkins say with 100% confidence that we will see the end of legal abortion in the US in our lifetime. Thank God for Kristin, Lila, AlfonZo, Abby and so many other young Pro-Lifers who are so on FIRE!
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@ninek – doubleplus ungood – awesome – thanks!
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Jason, you should read the entire poll, Gallup always breaks down the “certain.” Here are the results from this year:
Legal under any circumstances: 27%
Legal under most circumstances: 10%
Legal only in a few circumstances: 39%
Illegal in all circumstances: 22%
So looking at that, only 27% support the current state of affairs, and those 10% are fooling themselves and probably support things like informed consent, parental notification and late-term abortion bans. Since many prolife organizations support a life of the mother exception (on the principle that the law can’t choose between two individuals in a true dilemma), they would fall in the 39%, along with others who unfortunately think rape or incest or disability in the child justifies an abortion. So, in actually, probably 61% of people would ban most abortions, maybe as many as 95%.
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Anyway, Jason, it’s just your opinion that you’re not a troll. Right?
Tell me, rasqual, how does it feel when you attempt to strip away a person’s claim to legitimacy?
Like a cult member?
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Awww. Someone’s got a case of teh butthurt.
Awww. Someone grew up at the wrong end of Macdonald Avenue.
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Reading comprehension AND proofreading of your writing is needed. Alice was correct. Jason did not write million so his statement reads 1.2. ;-)
“Jason says:
May 23, 2012 at 11:56 am
So, Alice, three cheers for your excitement about the polling data.
1.2 abortions will still be performed this year.”
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Patty, yes, my mistake on the numbers and not proofreading my post. But, even so, it wouldn’t be a million less. More like 1.2 million less.
Chris, we could discuss the poll all day. However, the 27% doesn’t apply to more than a few states. So, your spin is interpretive.
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Meh. I don’t put much stock in polls these days. When that 50% that call themselves pro-life rise up and demand an end to legal abortion, then I’ll celebrate. If they did this, the reign of terror that is abortion would be over. I pray these lukewarm pro-lifers wake up.
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“Chris, we could discuss the poll all day”
From the guy who came to this thread to discuss the poll, and specifically to put a counter-intuitive spin on it.
Lrning, I agree that polls shouldn’t be taken too seriously, especially with the large differences shown in different polls by different firms. I mean how do we know who to trust.
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I don’t trust any of the polls.
Truly, if 50% of my friends, family, and neighbors called themselves pro-life and their actions bore witness to that, I would be giddy with joy.
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Thank you, moderator, for proving to me what this site is really all about.
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“Thank you, moderator, for proving to me what this site is really all about.”
Glad to hear. Would you kindly tell us what this site is really about?
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1.2 million = 1,200,000
1,200,000 – 1,000,000 = 200,000
1,000,000 > 200,000
200,000 > 1.2
So, yes, if there were only 1.2 abortions this year, that would be over one million less than there were in 2011. As I said before. Since 1.2 million is over one million and all.
I’m feeling the urge to quote E.B. White. “Humor can be dissected, as a frog can, but the thing dies in the process.” This frog is thoroughly dead. Poor frog.
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Roxy says:
May 23, 2012 at 11:16 am Wow, this is great news! Does someone with a greater knowledge of pro-life history have a theory as to what was going on during those temporary spikes? Or were they just sort of random?
===================================
Roxy, I have a lot of experience with scientific results and separating “random” from “real trends.”
What I see here is something like the movement of stock prices and market trends. When the market wants to go UP, it tries to go UP. It over-reaches its equilibrium, and corrects downward. Then it tries to go UP again, with a little more enthusiasm. It reaches new highs, corrects and then rebounds from higher lows. the overall trend is UP, with random variations on how far and how fast it goes UP.
In other words, the spikes are random peaks in an upward trend.
I must agree with the final conclusion of this article:
“That said, the numbers on our end have been creeping up, while the number of hardcore abortion proponents has remained flat”
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Glad to hear. Would you kindly tell us what this site is really about?
Ask the moderator to restore my two previous comments and you’ll know.
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Thanks, Del. That makes a lot of sense! And it’s still good news.
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I’m sorry, in my weaker moments I tend to want to keep this site troll free. The two comments have been restored. One may read them now and see that they were not taken down because of any sort of intellectually threatening content, but were taken down simply in an attempt to raise the level of discourse on this site.
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One may read them now and see that they were not taken down because of any sort of intellectually threatening content, but were taken down simply in an attempt to raise the level of discourse on this site.
Yes, well, one might consider raising the level of discourse by sanctioning those who trash talk with terms like “butthurt,” “mangina,” or “Mr. Bo-Jangles,” and deride tolerance as a refuge for fools. However, those terms and that type of thinking appear to be approved for use by the Borg.
But, it was nice of you to admit your censorship.
Thank you.
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I had said, in response to Jason: Anyway, Jason, it’s just your opinion that you’re not a troll. Right? To which mp replied: Tell me, rasqual, how does it feel when you attempt to strip away a person’s claim to legitimacy? Like a cult member?
Tell it to Jason. I’ve posted thrice in the last 12 hours, aping his use of the “it’s your opinion” silliness in an attempt to make the point you imagine you’re making to me.
Jason, if you won’t hear me, listen to mp. What she thought was directed to me turns out to be amening my point to you.
Thanks, mp!
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Mp, shoo! Arent you late to an abortion doula extravaganza?
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Mp, shoo! Arent you late to an abortion doula extravaganza?
If you’d bothered to have read my past comments, you’d know something of my position, and you’d know that your comment was totally irrelevant. My position is in the record here.
But, no, you can’t be bothered to do that. Nuanced positions are forbidden here, and that’s why I’m quickly coming to the conclusion that this is a cult.
As a group, you can’t tolerate a difference of opinion on any issue–let alone abortion– and you definitely can’t tolerate facts that differ with your world view. Those who differ are declared “trolls.” Witness the moderator who deleted my comments today.
This is an echo chamber, a place where you come to agree with each other.
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Remember this is a movement that can only find a has been feminist approaching 80y/0 to model an “I Had An Abortion” teeshirt.
Does anyone think it coincidental that Nancy Keenan of NARAL has made her exit at this time?
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mp,
The side of MacDonald I grew up on is none of your business.
“Butthurt” is a pretty common term these days, in wide use among the younger generations. Sorry you’re resistant to trends, but the young rule the nation. We’re getting more and more Pro-Life every day, too.
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and mp,
my opinion differs from the norm around here quite a bit. I still manage to have friendships with most of the regulars here. Just because you’re being a troll doesn’t mean this is an echo chamber. XD
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Sorry you’re resistant to trends, but the young rule the nation. We’re getting more and more Pro-Life every day, too.
Money rules this nation and it does care what you believe.
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I just asked a $20 bill what it thought of abortion. It didn’t respond.
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I just asked a $5 bill, and it said abortion should be illegal in all cases. We are the Pro-Life $5 Generation!
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“This is an echo chamber, a place where you come to agree with each other.”
That’s right, it can be taught! This is a prolife advocacy website. It’s full of news for prolifers and information about upcoming events for prolifers. Just like any other kind of website advocating anything. Is NARAL a cult? Is BarackObama.com a cult? There are no dissenting views allowed there, at all! I guess those are super-cults, then?
Why a proabortion person would come here is beyond me, unless they think they can convince us that killing kids is actually OK! Or they’re some kind of sadomasochist.
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Sorry, but I mis-typed when I made my last comment. It should read:
Money rules this nation and it doesn’t care what you believe.
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Why a proabortion person would come here is beyond me, unless they think they can convince us that killing kids is actually OK!
You also obviously didn’t read what I wrote.
That’s OK. It doesn’t matter.
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On the contrary mp, I read far too much of the crap you spread on here for your own gratification. Your latest nonsense is to accuse the mods of hypocrisy for deleting your worthless comments while leaving up others that are at least lighthearted and amusing if nothing else. Trolls need to lighten up when they are treated as what they are – people who goes to a website they disagree with or one run by people they don’t like in order to stir up trouble. This happens on pretty much EVERY WEBSITE THAT ALLOWS COMMENTS. So you can get down off the cross, troll. We’re not buying it.
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A day without mp is like a day with sunshine.
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Folks,
Let’s keep in mind that however much we don’t like or agree with someone, we do have something in this country called freedom of speech. Let’s be careful that we don’t reduce ourselves to the level of the Obama regime which resorts to woodshedding and hostage videos(Mayor Cory Booker) to keep those who criticize or disagree in line.
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(*sigh*) Truly, there should be some sort of perma-link for the “Top 10 Troll Comments/Claims”, to save time. Near the top of the list is, “So if I disagree with you/the board/etc., I’m a troll?”
For the nth time: no. Many abortion-tolerant people are on this board who are not trolls… since troll-dom is a matter of one’s manner, manners, logical ability, willingness to engage that logical ability (as opposed to throwing screed, flames, tantrums, and the like), and other actions/attitudes/behaviours. If “troll = disagree with the board’s foundational position”, then all of the abortion-tolerant regulars (e.g. Doug, Alexandra [to some extent], etc.) would be labelled as “trolls”; since they are not, the original hypothesis must be wrong… yes? (If A implies B, then “not B” implies “not A”.) It’s also a spectacular case of “wishful thinking”… along the lines of “it must be unjust bias/persecution; the problem couldn’t possibly be with ME, could it?” Yes, in fact, it could.
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Hey, one man’s troll is another man’s freedom fighter.
LOL
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Alexandra is pro-life, but she is also very thoughtful, and I think a lot of times thoughtfulness can give the illusion of compromise or not taking your position seriously when if fact, that is not the case (at least with her).
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I’m very fond of Alexandra and always enjoy seeing her here. She is a very thoughtful and insightful commentator, and I have never seen a harsh word used by her against anyone.
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Oh mp. We have so many disagreements on this board but it’s friendly.
I don’t agree with several issues here, but that doesn’t make me (or most who post here) a troll.
Paladin…. most excellent comment. I tip my hat to you!
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Bobby wrote:
Alexandra is pro-life,
Hm. I’ll happily stand corrected on that point… though I do wonder what I was remembering! Was there a different and pro-abortion “Alexandra” who stopped by, in the past? Curious…
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She used to be pro-choice back in the day which is what you might be remembering.
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Hey, Bobby and Mary! Thank you for your kind words. You both made my morning! I think one of the reasons people seem to find me abrasive here is that I have kind of a formal style of written communication. Really, you just need to picture me laughing or smiling while reading almost anything I write here, because that’s basically how I talk in real life. I had smile lines at 24; that’s how smiley I am. ;) Then, too, I really don’t like saying things unless I know that I think them, if that makes sense – I don’t like committing something to written permanence unless I am confident that I’ve thought it out and come to a conclusion. Sometimes I totally fail at that and usually in those cases I apologize profusely for wording things incorrectly, but more often than not, I am careful with what I commit to saying and I include qualifying statements that cover exceptions or extenuating circumstances etc, when applicable, which people often read as just flat-out justifications. Thus I will frequently thank someone for their thoughts but not agree with them – but I will be mulling it over and using their words to inform my internal arguments throughout the rest of my day or week (or life, really).
Paladin, I was pro-choice and vocally so, here and elsewhere, but not for years now. I really have been here too long – I don’t remember exactly when I started commenting, but it was not all that long after my own experiences with a difficult crisis pregnancy, which is what sparked my interest in supporting “access to reproductive rights.” I like to think I have always been polite and courteous, even in my years here before becoming pro-life, but I am not really the person to ask about that, I suppose. I think it was around 2008 or 2009 that I finally realized I had to be pro-life, for reasons of intellectual honesty. I was pro-life for a little while before I talked about it publicly (see previous paragraph).
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Actually I suspect I was a lot jokier and less serious back when I commented here from a pro-choice perspective! That’s weird. I imagine it’s probably because there was a risk, in taking the conversation seriously and actually having it without the distraction of humor or side anecdotes about my day; and all things considered I know that I am a likable person when I let people get to know me, so I just rested comfortably on that instead. Also, it was easier to have people like me and dislike my position, or dislike me because of my position, than like my position and dislike me – a few people have said some crummy things to me over the years and in some ways it was easier when I could blame that on them just not liking that I was abortion-tolerant. But that’s just a guess I pulled out of my [r]ear.
I was also younger and dealing with less stressful stuff back then, too, but that’s a less introspective answer, and that’s no fun at all.
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:) I have rarely been so happy to have been mistaken (and/or out of date)! My sincere apologies, milady Alexandra, and a very belated welcome to the “club”! I’ll fix your true proclivities and beliefs firmly in my addled mind, now, I promise!
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I’m sure that truth trucks and all the pro-lifers that boldly and courageously (though, some will disagree) show the aborted fetus images is directly related to this decline in support for abortion. Keep showing the truth of abortion and hopefully peoples’ consciences will move them to support the prolife position.
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Well thanks, Paladin! I have talked a bit at times about what led me to seek out alternate points of view, and what further led me to change my mind, but it’s pretty boring altogether. Bobby Bambino was actually one of the most important people when it came to this for me, even though we haven’t really ever been in direct contact with each other. There were two people I really felt changed my mind, intellectually; and there were two people who changed my heart enough to reassure me that it was okay to change my mind. Bobby was, however unintentionally, in both of those groups of people. So I owe him a lot!
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