When Does Life Begin?

--Fundamental Question Divides Pro-Life from Pro-Choice Americans --

ROCHESTER, NEW YORK, May 2, 2000 – Self-identified pro-choice and pro-life respondents give fundamentally different answers to the basic question: "When does life begin?" Among those who call themselves pro-life, 88% say life begins at conception. Among those who are pro-choice, only 23% believe life begins at conception. However, no single view dominates among pro-choice respondents about when life begins: 14% say it begins when fetal brainwaves or motion are observed, 38% at the point of viability of the fetus and 15% at birth. The remainder who were polled gave other responses or were not sure.

These findings regarding public opinion on abortion are from the most recent Harris Interactive Election 2000 survey conducted from April 4^th to April 10^th among 15,331 respondents selected at random from the Harris Interactive Internet panel of cooperative Internet respondents.

When asked when abortion should be illegal, 75% of pro-life respondents say it should be illegal anytime after conception and 12% think abortion should be illegal after fetal brainwaves or motion are observed. Among those who consider themselves to be pro-choice, only 3% think it should be illegal anytime after conception and 15% think it should be after brainwaves are observed. Almost half of pro-choice respondents, 48% think abortion should be illegal after the fetus is viable, while 24% think abortion should be legal anytime during a pregnancy.

Thus, on these two fundamental questions—"When does life start?" and "When should abortion be illegal?"—the pro-life group is both different from and more united than pro-choice citizens.

This explains why the pro-life group is able to generate a more intense moral energy among its followers and to create a voting bloc that will support a candidate based primarily on his or her abortion position.

However, when pro-life and pro-choice respondents, who felt that abortion should be illegal at some point, are asked if they would make exceptions in certain cases—such as for rape, incest, physical or mental health of the mother, or youth of the mother—a different and more complex pattern emerges. The pro-choice respondents tend to be more likely to make exceptions across all of the situations. For instance, 59% of pro-choice respondents would make an exception for a girl who is 14 or younger -- as compared to only 23% of pro-life respondents. But as the situations become more extreme, the pro-choice respondents become more united, while the pro-life groups are divided. For instance, in the case of a pregnancy that poses a risk to the life of the mother, 93% of pro-choice respondents would make an exception as compared to only 64% of pro-life respondents. Similarly, in the case of a pregnancy resulting from rape, 69% of pro-choice respondents would make an exception, while pro-life respondents are nearly evenly divided (44% for vs. 40% against an exception).

When it comes to legislation covering specific cases, the pro-life movement has problems creating a strong, united front while the pro-choice movement faces fewer problems. Moreover, to the extent that the controlling law on abortion, Roe v. Wade, and the case law following it are based on weighing competing values across the course of a pregnancy, pro-choice groups can more easily make legal arguments that will both satisfy the courts and their followers.

Therefore, it is neither an accident, nor mere choice of tactics, that has led one side to underscore electoral mobilization as a core political strategy, while the other has tended to emphasize legislative and legal argument. These strategic choices are rooted in the internal dynamics of public opinion of the pro-choice and pro-life communities.

Throughout the campaign season, some of the questions from Harris Interactive Election 2000 surveys will be regularly available through Excite@Home's new elections site (http://elections.excite.com/poll). Questions regarding the topic of abortion will appear on the site from May 2^nd to May 4^th. Visitors to the site can cast their votes on these questions and compare their opinion with those of Harris Interactive's online panel of more than 6.2 million respondents and with other Excite.com members.

People have different views about when human life beings. Listed below are some points at which people might say life begins. Which best describes your views about when life begins?

In general, at which of the following points, if any, do you believe abortions should be illegal or not allowed?

You indicated you feel abortion should be illegal (anytime after conception/after brainwaves or motions are observed/after the point of viability). Below is a list of possible exceptions.

Would you make an exception if the pregnancy …?

This Harris Interactive Election 2000 study was conducted between April 4^th and April 10^th with a national sample of 15,331 respondents from the Harris Interactive Inc. panel of Internet users. Data were weighted by age, sex, education, income, race/ethnicity, and region, as well as propensity to be online, a composite of several factors, in order to generalize the results to the national population.

In theory, with a randomly chosen sample of this size and after weighting the data, one could say with 95 percent certainty that the results have a statistical precision of plus or minus 2 percentage points of what they would be if the entire adult population of the United States had been polled. The sample used by Harris Interactive is not a random sample. While individuals have been randomly sampled from our database for this survey, they have previously chosen to take part in the Harris Interactive database.

There are several other possible sources of error in all polls or surveys that are probably more serious than theoretical calculations of sampling error. These potential sources of error include question wording and question order, non-response, and screening (e.g. for likely voters). It is difficult or impossible to quantify the errors that may result from these factors so the words "margin of error" should be avoided when reporting all survey data.

These statements conform to the principles of disclosure of the National Council on Public Polls.

Harris Interactive (Nasdaq: HPOL), a leading global market research firm, uses Internet-based and traditional methodologies to provide its clients with information about the views, experiences, behaviors and attitudes of people worldwide. Known for its Harris Poll, Harris Interactive has over 40 years experience in providing its clients with market research and polling services, including custom, multi-client research, service bureau research, as well as customer relationship management services. Through its US and Global Network offices, Harris Interactive conducts research in over 85 different countries in more than 30 different languages. Harris Interactive uses its proprietary technology to survey its database of more than 6.2 million online panelists. For more information about Harris Interactive, please visit our Web site at http://www.harrisinteractive.com.

About Excite@Home

Excite@Home (Nasdaq:ATHM), the leading broadband media company, offers media services through Excite(www.excite.com) and Blue Mountain Arts (www.bluemountain.com), and broadband subscription services through @Home (www.home.com) and @Work (www.work.home.net). The company has a worldwide footprint of 72 million cable homes under long-term contract to accelerate its position as the leading broadband media company. Excite@Home's MatchLogic division (www.matchlogic.com) offers marketers industry-leading digital advertising capabilities, including rich media production, ad and e-mail services, and database analysis -- all integrated into a complete solutions package.