Giving Compass' Take:
- Research reveals that 63% of Americans believe that abortion should be legal in all or most cases, an increase since the Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization Supreme Court decision that overturned Roe v. Wade
- What role can you play in helping to increase access to safe and legal abortions?
- Read about building an uncompromising movement for abortion access.
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Nearly two years after the Supreme Court overturned the 1973 Roe v. Wade decision guaranteeing a national right to abortion, a majority of Americans continue to express support for abortion access.
About six-in-ten (63%) say abortion should be legal in all or most cases. This share has grown 4 percentage points since 2021 – the year prior to the 2022 decision in Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization that overturned Roe.
The new Pew Research Center survey, conducted April 8-14, 2024, among 8,709 adults, surfaces ongoing – and often partisan – divides over abortion attitudes:
- Democrats and Democratic-leaning independents (85%) overwhelmingly say abortion should be legal in all or most cases, with near unanimous support among liberal Democrats.
- By comparison, Republicans and Republican leaners (41%) are far less likely to say abortion should be legal in all or most cases. However, two-thirds of moderate and liberal Republicans still say it should be.
Since before Roe was overturned, both parties have seen a modest uptick in the share who say abortion should be legal.
As in the past, relatively few Americans (25%) say abortion should be legal in all cases, while even fewer (8%) say it should be illegal in all cases. About two-thirds of Americans do not take an absolutist view: 38% say it should be legal in most cases, and 28% say it should be illegal in most cases.
Read the full article about support for abortion at Pew Research Center.