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Monday, June 21st, 2021

Americans Still Oppose Overturning Roe v. Wade

Author:     Lydia Saad
Source:     The Gallup Organization
Publication Date:     9 June 2021
 Link: Americans Still Oppose Overturning Roe v. Wade
Stephan:   Unnoticed by many, perhaps most Americans, a woman's right to control her own body once again hangs by a thread. Republican-controlled state legislators are doing everything in their power to overturn Roe v Wade or pinch off access to the functional point of stopping it. So I wondered where do Americans stand on this issue, as objectively verified by research, not politics. Here is the latest and best poll I could locate. And please be clear about one thing. The abortion argument is not about "killing babies". If that were true then the same people who are anti-choice should be leaders in maternal care, pre-delivery social services, and post-delivery childcare. But, of course, they are not. The abortion argument is about whether a woman or the state controls her body and the maintenance of the subordinate status of females. In turns out the majority of Americans oppose overturning Roe v. Wade. Here is Gallup's sophisticated assessment.

STORY HIGHLIGHTS

  • Nearly six in 10 Americans do not want Roe v. Wade overturned
  • Republicans are closely split on reversing the landmark decision
  • Bans on early-term abortions fall short of U.S. public support

WASHINGTON, D.C. — Gallup’s latest update on U.S. abortion attitudes finds 58% of Americans opposed to overturning the U.S. Supreme Court’s 1973 Roe v. Wade decision, while 32% are in favor. Since 1989, between 52% and 66% of U.S. adults have wanted to maintain the landmark abortion decision. Today’s support roughly matches the average over that three-decade period.

Line graph. Trend from 1989 to 2021 in the percentage of Americans who would like to see the U.S. Supreme Court overturn its Roe v. Wade abortion decision and the percentage who would oppose such an action. Opposition to overturning the decision has ranged from a low of 52% (in 2008) to a high of 66% (in 2006). It has been at or near 60% since 2018, including 58% in the latest reading.

The high court recently announced it will take up a Mississippi law prohibiting abortion after 15 weeks of pregnancy, […]

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