A strong majority (87%) of U.S. adults say abortion should be legal in all / some circumstances, according to a report published by The Economist and YouGov on June 22, two days before the Supreme Court issued its Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health decision.
Of this total, 31% say, “abortion should only be legal in special circumstances,” 30% that “abortion should be legal, but with some restrictions” and 26% that “abortion should always be legal.” Only 13% of respondents say, “abortion should be illegal. It should never be allowed.”
Around one-in-four (26%) say “abortion should never be banned” and 20% say it should always be banned after conception.
The remaining 54% were evenly divided: 17% percent support an abortion ban after six weeks, 13% after the first trimester, 12% after the second trimester and 11% after 15 weeks.
When presented with 10 scenarios and asked if it should “be possible for a woman to legally obtain an abortion” in such circumstances, a majority of respondents said “yes” for half of the possibilities.
Sixty-eight percent said a women should be able to obtain a legal abortion if “the woman’s life is endangered by the pregnancy.”
By comparison, 66% said abortion should be legal when “the woman became pregnant as the result of rape,” 63% when “the woman’s own health is serious endangered by the pregnancy,” 62% when “the woman became pregnant as a result of incest,” and 54% when “the baby is diagnosed with a congenital disorder resulting in little or no life expectancy.”
Only 9% of all respondents say, “A pregnant woman should never be able to obtain a legal abortion.”
A plurality (46%) of all respondents believe abortion laws should be decided at the national level, with 36% preferring that such laws be set by states and 19% were not sure. The total comes to 101% due to rounding.
The crosstab results are available here, the topline results are available here, and the overall margin of error is plus or minus 2.9%.
Managing editor for news and opinion at Good Faith Media.
