In a stunning interview with Melinda Henneberger, Nancy Pelosi manages to insult women and the American intelligence at once. She claims to simultaneously oppose any restrictions on abortion whatsoever and oppose abortion on demand. Her position is completely out of step with the average American, who opposes late-term abortion and taxpayer funding for abortion. Throughout the interview, she repeatedly insults women with the sexist, tired and statistically inaccurate assumption that women automatically support abortion by nature of their gender, especially her extremist view of it. In fact, the overwhelming majority oppose her support for abortions after 20 weeks. Nancy Pelosi needs some more recent polling and some newspapers from this millennium.

Ashley McGuire
Senior Fellow with The Catholic Association

In a revealing interview in today’s Roll Call, House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi speaks extensively about attempts to defund Planned Parenthood and pass a bill banning abortions past 20-weeks, characterizing them as an “insult to the intelligence and judgment of women” and “about respect – respect – for women.”  Ms. Pelosi ought to acknowledge that she does not speak for the majority of women, who according to The Washington Post, support just such a ban:

In fact, of four major polls conducted in recent weeks on the 20-week abortion ban, each one shows women are actually more supportive of the law than men.

A new Quinnipiac poll shows 60 percent of women prefer allowing unrestricted abortions for only the first 20 weeks of pregnancy rather than the Supreme Court-prescribed 24 weeks. Among men, 50 percent support the 20-week law — a 10-point gap.

A Washington Post-ABC News poll showed the gap at seven points, while two other polls (from NBC/Wall Street Journal and National Journal) showed it at six and four, respectively.

Maureen Ferguson,
Senior Policy Advisor with The Catholic Association