The more restricted abortion access becomes, the more likely Americans are to believe in the legal accessibility to the procedure, according to a new study by Pew Research Center.
The poll conducted in late March and early April compared attitudes toward abortion documented in 2019 with those since the U.S. Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade in 2022.
The survey found Americans are “more likely to say it should be easier to obtain an abortion than they were in 2019. About a third of adults (34%) say it should be easier for someone in the area where they live to obtain an abortion, an eight-point increase since 2019. This shift stems largely from those who live in states where abortion is now prohibited (43% say access should be easier, up from 31% in 2019) and those in states where it is restricted (38%, up from 27%).”
Opinions about the actual or desired availability of abortion differ depending on where respondent reside and whether they were polled in 2019 or 2023.
“Today, a 54% majority of Americans nationwide say it would be very easy or somewhat easy to get an abortion in the area where they live, down from 65% in 2019,” the report notes. “About four in 10 (42%) say it would be very or somewhat difficult to get an abortion in areas near them, up 10 percentage points from four years ago.”
Perceptions differed widely in states where abortion has been banned.
“About seven in 10 (71%) say it would be difficult to get an abortion, up from the half who said this in 2019. A majority (56%) of those living in states where abortion is restricted or in legal dispute say it would be difficult to get an abortion today, up 15 points from four years ago.”
The survey of 5,079 adults found overall attitudes toward abortion have remained mostly steady since the Supreme Court used the case of Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization to end federal abortion protections last year.
“About six in 10 Americans (62%) continue to say abortion should be legal in all or most cases, compared with 36% who say it should be illegal in all or most cases,” the report states. “Most Americans (80%) say their views on abortion have not changed over the past year, while 13% say their views have changed a little and 6% say they have changed a lot.”
Support also exists for the protection and availability of medication abortion, which is being challenged in several states and federally.
The poll shows: “Overall, 53% of adults say medication abortion — that is, the use of a prescription pill or a series of pills to end a pregnancy — should be legal in their state, while fewer than half as many (22%) say it should be illegal. About a quarter (24%) say they aren’t sure.”
Both opposition and support for legal abortion have remained mostly steady across most demographic groups, with about 60% of Americans saying the procedure should be legal in all or most cases and 36% believing it should be illegal in all or most situations.
Democrats are more than twice as likely as Republicans (84% to 40%), to believe abortion should be legal in most or all situations.
“There also continue to be wide differences by age, race and ethnicity in views of legal abortion,” the report adds. “Nearly three-fourths (73%) of adults ages 18 to 29 say abortion should be legal in all or most cases (including 39% who say it should be legal in all cases), compared with 62% of those 30 to 49 and 57% of those 50 and older.”
Nearly three-quarters of Black and Asian adults (73% each) believe abortion should be legal in most or all cases, while 59% of white and 62% of Hispanic adults agree.
“As in the past, there are relatively modest differences in opinions by gender about abortion. Nearly two-thirds of women (64%) say abortion should be legal in all or most cases, compared with six in 10 men who say the same.”
Worry about the accessibility of abortion is on the rise among Americans, the Pew report says. “Around six in 10 Americans (62%) say their greater concern is that some states are making it too difficult to get an abortion, while 35% say their greater concern is that some states are making it too easy to get an abortion.”
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