Friday, June 21, 1996

Texans sending mixed signals about abortion in poll

By STEVE RAY Harte-Hanks
Texas Poll Syndicate

Sixty-two percent of Texans believe abortion should be legal only under certain circumstances, and 16 percent believe it shouldn't be legal at all, according to the Harte-Hanks Texas Poll.

But 19 percent believe it should be legal under any circumstance.

And 52 percent of Texans consider themselves closer to the pro-choice position on abortion, compared with 37 percent who are anti-abortion.

"This is not an easy issue, and people have conflicting sentiments about it," said Pauline Cashion, director of the Texas Abortion and Reproductive Rights Action League. "But whatever people's personal opinion on abortion, the vast majority believe government should not make these decisions and they should be left to the people involved."

Abortion has become a hot-button issue in Texas politics, especially this week as thousands of Republicans meet in San Antonio at the state GOP convention. The Republicans will vote on issues directly and indirectly related to the abortion question.

Meanwhile, the majority of Texans believe abortion should be legal if a baby is seriously deformed, if the mother's health is endangered or if a woman becomes pregnant because of rape or incest. But they don't think abortion should be legal because someone doesn't want, or can't afford, another baby.

"What the poll shows is that the vast majority of people out there are in the middle," said anti-abortion advocate Bill Price, who heads Texans United for Life. "That gives us a whole lot of room to work or maneuver."

In 1994, the latest statewide statistics available, 89,365 legal abortions were performed in Texas. Four of those were to children 11 years old and younger, and 71 were for girls 12 and 13 years old.
Analysts say the issue could become a deciding factor in this year's presidential and congressional elections because many anti-abortion advocates are one-issue voters.

"What we've always found is that pro-life voters are much more focused," said Price, who is leading anti-abortion forces at the state GOP convention. "They are much more likely to vote up or down on this issue alone. Pro-choice voters tend to look at a whole range of issues."

The Texas Poll found 58 percent of Texas' likely voters find out a candidate's position on abortion before voting. But only 31 percent of them feel that position would be enough to make them vote for or against a candidate.

But 48 percent of those who consider themselves anti-abortion think one issue could decide their vote, compared with 27 percent of pro-choice likely voters.

That means, Price said, that anti-abortion advocates are more likely to go to the polls in greater numbers than other voters. And, he says, it means they are more important at election time.

"You can make up a lot of ground in an election when there is a group that is going to vote based on a single issue," he said.

The poll, conducted June 3-13, has a margin of error of plus or minus 3 percentage points. The margin of error for the 786 likely voters is plus or minus 3.4 percentage points. The Office of Survey Research at the University of Texas surveyed 1,000 adult Texans for Harte-Hanks Communications Inc.