Last week an Associated Press article claimed that a new, AP-commissioned poll shows that "people decisively favor letting their public schools provide birth control to students. . . ." The AP is "summarizing" the responses to this question:
Which would you prefer for the public schools in your community?
Provide birth control only to those students who have the consent of their parents 37%
Provide birth control to all students who want it 30%
Not provide birth control to any student 30%
DK/NS [don't know / not sure] 3%
There you have it. 67 percent either do not favor birth control being provided to any student, or only would favor making it available if their parents consent. Only 30 percent favor making birth control generally available.
Yet the AP's misleading "summary" is reverberating throughout the media. Take for example this story, which includes this mention of the poll: "[Senator Clinton] spoke a day after an Associated Press poll said 67 percent of Americans support giving out contraceptives to middle schoolers."Read the whole post.
