According to a new poll, a solid majority of Americans think abortions should not be legal within the first three months of a woman’s pregnancy. However, most believe that the procedure should be illegal in the second or third trimesters.
This poll is coming just weeks after The U.S. Supreme Court agreed that it would hear a case concerning a blocked Mississippi law, which would prohibit abortions after 15 weeks of pregnancy. It was to be heard two weeks into the second quarter. If is upheld by the high court, it will be the first time since 1973 Roe v. Wade that a state can ban abortions after a fetus has survived outside of the womb.
According to The Associated Press/NORC Center for Public Affairs Research, 61% believe that abortion should be legal in all or most circumstances during the first trimester. However, 65% of respondents said that abortion should be illegal in the second trimester and 80% said the same about the third.
The poll still shows that many Americans believe the procedure should be allowed in certain circumstances, even during the second and third trimesters. 34% believe that abortions should be allowed during the second trimester. Another 30% think they should be illegal in all but some cases. 19% believe that most or all abortions should always be legal in the third trimester. Another 26% think they should only be illegal in most cases.
Michael New, an abortion opponent and professor of social research at Catholic University of America predicted that the anti-abortion movement would benefit from the results regarding the second-and third-trimester abortions.
He stated, “This counters the narrative that the Roe v. Wade abortion policy outcome enjoys substantial public support.”
David O’Steen (executive director of the National Right to Life Committee) stated that the findings indicate that pro-abortion rights advocates are “way out the public mainstream” in the sense that they support abortion access late in pregnancy.
However, Dr. Daniel Grossman (a professor of obstetrics at the University of California in San Francisco) supports abortion rights. He cited research that showed Americans view second-trimester abortions with more empathy when they are told the reasons women seek them.
Grossman stated that these include the time-consuming difficulty of making arrangements at an abortion clinic, and learning in the second trimester whether the fetus will die or be severely disabled due to abnormalities.
He said via email that “More work is needed to elevate the voices people who had abortions and want to share stories to help people understand why this medical care so important.”
A majority of Americans, Republicans and Democrats, believe that a pregnant woman should have the right to legalize an abortion if she is in grave danger or if her pregnancy is the result of rape or incest.
The Americans are divided on whether or not a woman who is pregnant should be allowed to have a legal abortion. 49% of Americans say yes and 50% disagree.
Jenny Ma, senior staff lawyer with the Center for Reproductive Rights, stated that women seeking second-trimester abortions included disproportionately many young women, Black women, and women who are poor. Ma stated that some women didn’t find out they were pregnant until much later than usual. Others had difficulty raising the funds needed to have an abortion.
She pointed out that in recent years, Republican-governed states have put many restrictions on abortion that can often complicate the process of getting even a first-trimester.
Ma stated that “removing many barriers to abortion care earlier would decrease the need for second- or third-trimester abortions.”
Although they are not uncommon, abortions after the first trimester of pregnancy are not common. In its most recent report, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention estimated that 92% (or 92%) of all abortions in the United States were performed in the first 13 weeks.
This poll also shows that opinions about abortion differ sharply between parties. Approximately three quarters of Democrats believe abortion should be legal in most or all cases. About two thirds of Republicans agree.
However, most Americans are split on the issue. Only 23% believe abortion should be legal in every case, while 33% support it in most cases. Only 13% of those polled believe it should be legal in all cases, while 33% agree with the idea that abortion should be made illegal in most cases.
Three major religious groups, white mainline Protestants (non-white Protestants) and Catholics, have a wide range of opinions on whether abortion should be legalized or not. This was not the case for white evangelicals. About three quarters of them believe that abortion should be illegal in most or all cases.
Dave Steiner, a suburban Chicago hotel manager, was one of the respondents to the APNORC poll. He said that abortion should be legalized in the first trimester and then generally made illegal.
Steiner, 67, said that he was raised Catholic and believed abortion was wrong. “As I grew more liberal and a Democrat I felt that the woman should have the freedom to choose — but this should only be done in the first trimester.”
He said, “Abortions will happen anyway.” “If you make it illegal, you are just chasing it underground.”
