By Dave Andrusko

For wholly understandable reasons, one of the most “liked” posts of 2017 was titled,” New Knights of Columbus Poll finds strong support for ban on abortions after 20 weeks and vigorous opposition to tax-funded abortions.”

In a survey of 2,729 adults, 59% of Americans supported a ban on abortions after 20 weeks, except to save the life of the mother. Twenty weeks is the point at which medical science demonstrates that the unborn child can experience pain.

There was also towering bi-partisan opposition to the use of tax payer dollars to pay for abortions at home (61% to 35%) and aboard (83% to 14%) and support for broad limitations on abortion.

We also talked about what the KOC described as “overwhelming support for the swift nomination of a Supreme Court justice who will apply the constitution as originally written.” That is precisely the characterization of the judicial philosophy of Judge Neil Gorsuch , pro-life President Donald Trump’s nominee to replace the late Justice Antonin Scalia.

Overall, the survey found that 8 in 10 Americans (80 percent) say it is an “immediate priority” (56 percent) or an “important” one (24 percent) to appoint Supreme Court justices that will interpret the constitution as it was originally written. Ninety-three percent of Republicans, 77 percent of independents and 70 percent of Democrats agree.

In addition,

By a 12 point margin (52% to 40%) want the court to interpret the constitution “as it was originally written” and not on what they think the “constitution means now.” This held true not just for Republicans (78% to 18%) but also for Independents (50% to 42%).

Moreover, according to the Marist Poll conducted for the KOC

[A]lmost 9 in 10 Americans (89 percent) see protecting religious freedom as a priority, including 57 percent who describe it as an “immediate priority” and 32 percent who consider it an “important” one.

The issue is embraced in a bi-partisan manner. Fifty-one percent of Independents, 55 percent of Democrats and 66 percent of Republicans concur that this is an “immediate priority.”