On the eve of President Obama's controversial commencement speech at Notre Dame, a new Gallup Poll out today shows a majority of Americans calling themselves "pro-life" on abortion for the first time since Gallup starting asking the question in 1995.

The survey, conducted May 7-10, found 51 percent saying they were pro-life and 42 percent pro-choice -- a significant shift from a year ago, when 50 percent were pro-choice and 44 percent pro-life. Previously, the highest percentage identifying as pro-life was 46 percent, in both August 2001 and May 2002, Gallup said.

In our home, at least, pregnancy has accentuated how we feel about this issue.

Unfortunately, in the US, the numbers don't lie: approximately 93% of abortions that occur in this country are for "social reasons". Social reasons?

People have become confused about this issue because of how politically charged the end result - abortion - has become. The acts leading up to an abortion, and the people having them for social reasons, are the problem, not the abortion itself. Instead of owning up to that fact, we put abortion in the spotlight and say women have rights over their own bodies, then wonder why it's still a hot issue 35-plus years later.

If this weren't such a tragic issue in many ways, my wife & I would laugh at morons who fight over who has the right to end a pregnancy for the sake of convenience & when. We were ready for children & began trying for children, period. Pregnancy should be about advancing a family, procreating, extending legacies down to another generation. Instead, people figure pregnancy is a neat little thing that older chicks do when they're done dating & clubbing, and that's the real tragedy, not abortion.