A substantial majority of Americans oppose a federal abortion ban, while a growing number support access to abortion for any reason, a new poll finds, highlighting a politically perilous situation for candidates who oppose abortion rights heading into the November elections.
About six in 10 Americans believe their state should generally allow a person to get a legal abortion if they don’t want to be pregnant for any reason, according to a new poll from The Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research. That’s up from June 2021, a year before the Supreme Court struck down the constitutional right to the procedure, when about half of Americans thought legal abortion should be available in those circumstances.
Americans are largely opposed to the strict bans that have taken effect in Republican-led states since the country’s top court ruled two years ago. Complete bans, with few exceptions, have been passed in 14 GOP-led states, while three other states prohibit abortion after about six weeks of pregnancy, often before women realize they are pregnant.
They are also overwhelmingly opposed to national bans and restrictions on abortion. And views on abortion – which have long been relatively stable – may be becoming more permissive.
The survey of 1,088 adults was conducted June 20-24, using a sample drawn from NORC’s AmeriSpeak panel, which is designed to be representative of the U.S. population. Because the sampling method is non-probability, the margin of error does not apply.
Vincent Wheeler, a 47-year-old Republican from Los Angeles, said abortion should be available for any reason until viability, the point at which health care providers say it is possible for a fetus to survive outside the womb.
“There are so many reasons why someone might want or need an abortion that it’s up to that person to decide what to do in that specific circumstance,” Wheeler said, acknowledging that other Republican supporters might disagree with him.
Let the states decide?
Presumptive Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump has refused to endorse a nationwide abortion ban, saying the issue should be left to states. But even that stance may not satisfy most Americans, who continue to oppose many abortion bans in their own states and believe Congress should pass a law guaranteeing access to abortion nationwide, the poll found.
Seven in ten Americans believe abortion should be legal in all or most cases, a slight increase from last year, while about three in ten believe abortion should be illegal in all or most cases.
Robert Hood, a 69-year-old from Universal City, Texas, who identifies as an “independent liberal,” has believed abortions should be legal for any reason since he was 18, because, he says, “life is full of gray areas.” He remembers reading stories as a teenager about women who died trying to abort before the ruling Roe v. Wade of 1973 does not confer a constitutional right to this procedure.
“Pregnancy is complicated,” he said. “Women should make that choice with the guidance of their doctor and family, but ultimately it’s her choice, her body and her life.”
He said he would support national protections for abortion rights.
Conflicting opinions
Opinions on abortion have long been nuanced and sometimes contradictory. The new AP-NORC survey shows that while the country is largely opposed to abortion restrictions, a significant number of people hold views and values that are inconsistent.
About half of those who say a woman should be able to have an abortion for any reason also say their state should not allow abortion after 24 weeks of pregnancy, and about a quarter say their state should not allow abortion after 15 weeks of pregnancy.
But the vast majority of Americans — more than eight in six — still say abortion should be legal in extreme circumstances, such as when a patient’s life would be endangered by continuing the pregnancy. About eight in 10 say the same about a pregnancy caused by rape or incest or when a fetal abnormality would prevent the child from surviving outside the womb.
National abortion bans are widely unpopular: About eight in ten Americans say Congress should not pass a federal law banning abortion. About three-quarters say there should be no federal law banning abortion at six weeks, and six in ten oppose a federal law banning abortion at 15 weeks.
Most Republicans — about two-thirds, according to the survey — say a nationwide abortion ban should not happen.
Fears remain
During the election campaign, Donald Trump courted anti-abortion voters by highlighting his nomination of the three Supreme Court justices who helped overturn Roe v. Wade.
But his political strategy on abortion has been to defer to the states, in an attempt to find a more cautious position on an issue that has become a major vulnerability for Republicans.
Despite Mr. Trump’s statements, Penny Johnson, 73, of Sherman Oaks, Calif., said she deeply fears that Republicans will pursue a national abortion ban if they win the White House and Congress in November.
“We will have a lot of women dying,” she predicted.
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