(Credit: Debra Sweet)

It was right before the 2008 elections that I found myself, almost by accident, talking to a friend’s mother about abortion and reproductive rights. She said she considered herself conservative on most issues and reliably voted for Republican candidates, but when John McCain’s record on abortion came up she remarked, ‘Who am I to make that decision for someone else? It’s not my business if someone gets an abortion.”

There are lots of people in this country who feel the same way, according to a new poll from NARAL Pro-Choice America. According to the national poll, nearly 70 percent of Americans don’t want to see more abortion restrictions enacted because they don’t want the government making that decision for anyone. The poll used a series of nuanced questions to collect the data, leaving more room for people to express their views beyond ‘pro-choice” and ‘pro-life.” Respondents were asked to select which of the following statements ‘came closest” to their own view: ‘I believe having an abortion is morally acceptable and should […]