Giving Compass' Take:
- Pew Research Center provides insight into American's widely varied opinions on abortion: 61% say abortion should be legal in all or most cases, while 38% say it should be illegal in all or most cases.
- What are the implications of public opinion on abortion for reproductive health initiatives?
- Learn about the demographics of women who are getting abortions in America.
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As of 2019, public support for legal abortion remains as high as it has been in two decades of polling. Currently, 61% say abortion should be legal in all or most cases, while 38% say it should be illegal in all or most cases.
Though abortion is a divisive issue, more than half of U.S. adults take a non-absolutist position, saying that in most – but not all – cases, abortion should be legal (34%) or illegal (26%). Fewer take the position that in all cases abortion should be either legal (27%) or illegal (12%).
About three-quarters of white evangelical Protestants (77%) think abortion should be illegal in all or most cases.
By contrast, 83% of religiously unaffiliated Americans say abortion should be legal in all or most cases, as do nearly two-thirds of black Protestants (64%), six-in-ten white mainline Protestants (60%) and a slim majority of Catholics (56%).
Read the full article about public opinion on abortion by Travis Mitchell at Pew Research Center.