The University of Chicago’s Project on Security and Threats found that, in June 2023, 12% of surveyed Americans agreed with the statement, “The use of force is justified to restore the federal right to abortion.”
Six months earlier, in January 2023, 8% of Americans agreed with the same statement.
The increase in favour of violence to restore a federal right to abortion was most pronounced among Democrats, the political affiliation most supportive of abortion generally, with 8% of Democrats favouring violence in January this year, rising to 16% by June.
A wave of violence directed at pro-life groups swept across the US in 2022 after the Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade, the infamous ruling that established a federal right to abortion across the nation.
Another study recently found that US pro-lifers suffered reported than pro-abortion individuals and groups between 3 May and 24 September 2022.
In August 2022, SPUC reported that attacks on at least 69 Catholic churches in the US by pro-abortion activists.
At the same time, the militant group Jane’s Revenge declared “open season” on pro-life pregnancy centres, also stating that it would ‘open season’ in attacking pro-lifers.
SPUC comment
A SPUC spokesperson said: “This poll confirms the shocking rise in attacks directed against people and groups seeking to protect unborn children. The willingness of pro-abortion persons to turn to violence to advance the similarly violent act of abortion is disturbing but also not surprising.
“People’s actions mirror their beliefs. While the pro-life movement, founded on love and protecting life, is peaceful, pro-abortion militancy is necessarily destructive, revelling more and more in violence, not only as a means to an end but the end itself.”
