The findings, which appear in the journal Contraception, suggest that inaccurate knowledge of abortion laws could be an additional barrier to care in environments that are hostile toward abortion.

“Women have low levels of knowledge about abortion laws, with consistently low knowledge across the United States,” says lead author Jonas Swartz, medical director of family planning in Duke University’s department of obstetrics and gynecology.

“When considering women’s understanding about the safety of abortion and impact on health, inaccurate anti-abortion messaging and poor sexual health knowledge appears to outweigh abundant and compelling contrary evidence.”

Swartz and colleagues received 1,057 surveys from a cross-section of English- and Spanish-speaking women between the ages of 18-49 in the United States. The surveys asked 12 questions about laws regulating abortion in a respondent’s state and five questions on common abortion myths.

The mean score for the group was just over two correct answers out of twelve on the laws. For three of the five myths about abortion, women endorsed myths over facts. Women who believe abortion should be illegal, and those living in states with neutral or hostile state policies toward abortion were more likely to have poor knowledge of the law.

Read the full article about state abortion laws knowledge by Sarah Avery at Futurity.