A Vote on Abortion

This spring, George McGovern squirmed uncomfortably over the issue of abortion. After his opponents criticized him for favoring legalized abortions McGovern changed his stand and said that the issue should be left for the states to decide. Richard Nixon never had a doubt. He has resolutely opposed legalized abortion and defended "the sanctity of human life."

It may be that both candidates--whatever their moral scruples--are miscalculating the issue's political reverberations. Last week a Gallup Poll found that 64% of all Americans are actually in favor of legalized abortions, with Republicans more in favor (68%) than independents (67%) or Democrats (59%). Even Catholics in the sample approved by 56%. Three years ago, only 40% of those polled favored legalized abortions.

An even higher percentage (73%) of those polled said they would favor more birth control services and better dissemination of sex education. Abortion remains, of course, a crucial and politically dangerous issue, but last week there was another indication of wider acceptance. The U.S. Second Circuit Court ruled that, contrary to a 1971 directive by New York's former Social Services Commissioner George Wyman, patients must be allowed to use the state's Medicaid funds to pay for their abortions, which are legal in New York. Wyman's order, said the court, "would deny indigent women the equal protection of the laws."

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