Do Americans want Roe v. Wade overturned by Supreme Court? What polls say on abortion
Most people in the U.S. support abortion rights, multiple polls from over the past decade show.
A draft opinion written by Justice Samuel Alito and obtained by Politico shows the Supreme Court appears poised to overturn Roe v. Wade, the 1973 decision which guaranteed federal protection of abortion rights in the U.S. Constitution by a 7-2 vote.
The draft opinion, which isn’t final until an official ruling is handed down within the next few months, comes as a complete federal ban on abortion is vastly unpopular across all U.S. states, polls show.
The Supreme Court on May 3 confirmed the validity of the document — but added “it does not represent a decision by the Court or the final position of any member on the issues in the case.” Politico reported it appeared Alito’s opinion would be joined by Justices Clarence Thomas, Neil Gorsuch, Brett Kavanaugh and Amy Coney Barrett.
If Roe v. Wade is indeed overturned, however, the issue of abortion would be left to the states, with at least 13 states having “trigger laws” that would immediately ban the procedure, Axios reported.
There is not a single state in the U.S. where more than 30% of residents support a federal ban, according to a 2021 report from Data for Progress.
A majority of people in the U.S. do not want to see Roe v. Wade overturned
A large majority of people in the U.S. consistently said they do not want to see Roe v. Wade overturned — and haven’t since at least 1989, according to Gallup.
A May 2021 Gallup poll, for example, found that just 19% of Americans said abortion should be illegal in “all” cases, while 32% said it should be legal under “any” circumstance and 48% said it should be legal with some restrictions.
If Roe v. Wade was overturned, a majority of American adults — 59% — said they would want their states to implement laws “that are more permissive than restrictive toward abortion,” according to a recent CNN poll conducted by SSRS.
That same poll found only 30% of Americans said Roe v. Wade should be overturned entirely.
Fifty-two percent of American adults also said they favor the federal government having more responsibility for making abortion laws than state governments, according to a 2021 Associated Press/NORC poll.
Most oppose abortion later in the pregnancy
Over the last decade a majority of U.S. adults have said they believe abortion should be legal in all or most cases, according to a 2021 poll from the Pew Research Center. Since 1995, Pew found more Americans have supported abortion being legal in all or most cases than those who say abortion should be illegal in all or most circumstances.
But most in the U.S. oppose abortion later in pregnancy, according to the AP poll. While 61% of respondents said they believed abortion should be legal in most cases during the first trimester, that number dropped to 34% who said the same for the second trimester and then 19% for the third trimester.
U.S. equally divided between ‘pro-choice’ and ‘pro-life’
In 2021, U.S. adults were evenly split between those who identify as pro-choice versus pro-life, with 49% and 47% respectively. There is also a split between those who say that abortion is morally acceptable versus morally wrong, according to the May 2021 Gallup poll, with 47% calling it acceptable and 46% calling it wrong.
This year, 41% of people in the U.S. said they were “very dissatisfied” with the country’s policies regarding abortion — the highest percentage recorded in the last 20 years, according to Gallup.
This story was originally published May 3, 2022 at 1:40 PM with the headline "Do Americans want Roe v. Wade overturned by Supreme Court? What polls say on abortion."
