WASHINGTON (April 3, 2000) -- On the eve of another congressional vote on banning partial-birth abortion, a new poll shows that sixty-eight percent of Americans support a law banning this procedure.

Only 19.6% of respondents oppose such a law, and 13.4% either don't know or gave no answer.

The poll was commissioned by the Secretariat for Pro-Life Activities of the National Conference of Catholic Bishops and the Knights of Columbus.

"There is no mistaking how strongly Americans reject partial-birth abortion," said Helen Alvare, Director of Planning and Information for the Pro-Life Secretariat. "Year in and year out polls have shown enormous support (in the upper 60's percentiles) for a bill banning this procedure."

"Support for partial-birth abortion, on the other hand, is quite low," Ms. Alvare continued. "This is not surprising, given its visibly brutal nature. "Still these numbers must be translated by Congress into a vote sufficient to overcome an expected presidential veto."

The poll showed women oppose partial-birth abortion more than men, and younger men and women oppose it more than their elders.

The House of Representatives is expected to vote on passage of a bill to ban partial-birth abortion on Wednesday, April 5. It passed the Senate in late 1999, but two votes shy of the number necessary to overcome the President's veto.

The poll, done by MarketFacts, contacted 1,000 citizens between March 31 and April 2, 2000. The poll has a margin of error of 3.1 percent.

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