A poll conducted by the Becket Fund for Religious Liberty found that 62% of Americans believe that pro-life pregnancy counselors should be permitted to provide their services on sidewalks near abortion facilities, regardless of whether the government attempts to prohibit them.
The 2023 Religious Freedom Index by the public-interest legal company found that early 2/3rds of people think it should be legal for pregnancy counselors to contact women on the sidewalk outside of abortion facilities and give them information and assistance. A third of respondents said that counselors shouldn’t be able to approach women near health centers.
After the Supreme Court gave the states control over abortion in 2022, sidewalk activism became a contentious subject.
Following the decision, Westchester County, New York, passed legislation prohibiting sidewalk activism within 100 feet of abortion facilities without the individual’s permission.
Activist Debra Vitagliano sued the county, and a federal appeals court eventually decided that she may take her case to the Supreme Court. After realizing that approaching a stranger calmly to provide information or assistance is not illegal, Westchester County removed the ordinance.
Between September 28 and October 5, a representative sample of 1,000 individuals in the United States participated in Becket’s online survey, which was administered by Heart and Mind Strategies.
Meanwhile, Organizers of the nation’s capital’s annual March for Life are projecting that the attendance may surpass 100,000 today.
“Evangelical advocates predict a greater struggle to alter Americans’ opinions on abortion”—a year and a half after Roe v. Wade was overturned—fifty-one years later.
If the anti-abortion movement had cause for joy at the march in 2023, the “formidable problems that lay ahead in this election year” would be evident during the 2024 gathering.
The following events are scheduled: a pre-rally concert from 11 a.m. to noon Eastern, the main rally from 1 p.m. to noon, and the march from 1 p.m. to 4 p.m.
