Poll finds lack of knowledge about Roe v. Wade decision

[Redfairen]

Source: CNN

Tuesday is the 40th anniversary of the U.S. Supreme Court's landmark Roe v. Wade decision, but a poll shows that many Americans don't know the significance of the case.

According to a new study released by Pew Research Center, only 62% of adults polled knew the decision affirmed the legality of a woman's right to abortion under the 14th Amendment to the Constitution, and only 44% of those polled under the age of 30 could say the case dealt with abortion.

Among the under-30 set, Pew says, 16% thought the case dealt with school desegregation, and 41% either said it dealt with another issue or had no idea what it dealt with.

In comparison, 7% of all adults polled incorrectly associated the decision with school desegregation, 5% associated it with the death penalty, and 5% more thought the ruling dealt with environmental protection, according to a Pew report.

Read more: http://www.cnn.com/2013/01/22/us/roe-wade-poll/index.html

[valerief]

1. Americans have a lack of knowledge on a lot of simple things like geography.

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/12591413/ns/us_news-education/t/young-americans-shaky-geographic-smarts/#.UP7WZZi8qnA
http://newsfeed.time.com/2011/07/21/where-is-america-only-one-quarter-of-u-s-students-are-proficient-in-geography/
http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2006/05/0502_060502_geography.html
http://news.yahoo.com/blogs/lookout/only-25-percent-american-students-passed-geography-test-160214355.html

[Blue_Tires]

13. Along with Charles Darwin...

[jberryhill]

2. It goes deeper than that

Plenty of folks on both sides of the argument believe that Roe v. Wade had something to do with "whether or not a fetus is a person" or "whether life begins at conception".

It didn't have anything to do with that either. Roe v. Wade assumes life begins at conception, and then discusses a balance of interests between individual privacy and self determination on the one hand, and the state's interest in preserving life on the other, as the course of development proceeds.

[xxqqqzme]

3. ONLY 62%!

In election speak, that's a landslide.

I'm amazed it is that high. I suspect the age has much to do w/ this. I know I taught my daughter and son what it was about and why it was so important. Looks like we didn't do a good job of passing that along.

[onehandle]

4. Roe v. Wade? That's something to do with boating?... or swimming? nt

[Honest_Abe]

6. It was about how Washington and his men crossed the Delaware. NT

[onehandle]

8. Jesus. Good thing them went with Roe. That water was was cold.

[eggplant]

10. I've been able to baffle folks with this shirt for years now.

http://shirt.woot.com/offers/row-vs-wade

[rurallib]

12. love it!

[Igel]

16. Nope.

Obscure legal case in the Pacific NW that regulated the rights of waders in mountain streams when the salmon were spawning.

It was found that salmon begin at deposition, so the roe won and the northwesterners had to content themselves with the Oregon Coast those times of year. (Suspicion is it was decided due to bribery by the Tillamook cheese mob.)

[AllyCat]

5. What we need are more cuts to education and more textbooks written by

fundamentalist Xtians/Taliban.

Jeez. People are so busy watching Dancing with the Stars they can't be bothered knowing minutiae like this.

[elleng]

14. Textbooks written by/in/for Texas

have helped get us where we are, as they then spread around the country. Nothing like monopoly to mess up our democracy.

[Zoeisright]

7. So what else is new.

There are many, many, MANY incredibly stupid Americans who are deliberately ignorant.

[aggiesal]

9. Roe .vs. Wade was about . . .

Our right to privacy with respect to medical issues.
What happens between me and my doctor should only be between me and my doctor.

Abortion was the vehicle used to affirm that right.

[eggplant]

11. +1

Legal abortion is just one positive result from this case.

[judesedit]

15. The program's called "The Dumbing Down of America".Check it out through your browser.You might be

surprised that this was and is an actual program put forth by the government under Reagan using Project Instruct as one model. Don't be afraid Americans. Get educated. Look up "The deliberate dumbing down of America". Hence, the tea-party, NRA, formerly KKK, etc.