Gallup poll shows Americans overwhelmingly interested in Robert’s abortion stance; Fr. Pavone ‘not surprised’

Washington D.C., Sep 6, 2005 / 22:00 pm

A recent Gallup poll showed that Americans are more interested in Supreme Court Chief Justice nominee John Robert’s stance on abortion than in any other issue, a finding which Fr. Frank Pavone, head of Priests for Life does not find surprising.

"This is not surprising,” said Fr. Pavone in a statement yesterday, “in view of the fact that the number of voters for whom abortion is a deciding factor has been increasing in recent elections.”

"Many of these voters elected President Bush precisely because they knew he would have an opportunity to nominate the kind of Supreme Court Justices they want to have. Now they want to know how the man the President selected feels about an issue important to them," he said.

The poll showed that the abortion issue represented 28% of people’s concerns--above only about a 6% margin for all other issues.

In his statement, Fr. Pavone pointed out that "the so-called 'right to abortion' is nowhere in the Constitution, and unless a judge wants to rewrite that document, he will not invent such a right."

President Bush decided Monday to nominate Roberts, who was originally tapped to fill the shoes of retiring justice Sandra Day O’Connor, for the position of the highest judge in the nation. The announcement followed Saturday’s death of Chief Justice William Rehnquist.

Roberts has received what many see as undue scrutiny for his Catholic faith but has not publicly expressed his personal views on abortion.

Senate confirmation hearings for Roberts are scheduled to begin Monday.