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Since my opinion doesn’t hold up to squat, I figured I’d save my breath and share some of this.

JUNE 17, 2021

Key facts about the abortion debate in America
BY CARRIE BLAZINA, MICHAEL LIPKA AND JOHN GRAMLICH

Key facts about the abortion debate in America

 

Nearly five decades after the U.S. Supreme Court’s Roe v. Wade decision, opponents and supporters of abortion rights are still battling over the issue in court, at the ballot box and in state legislatures. Several states have introduced or passed new restrictions on abortion in 2021 with an eye toward giving the Supreme Court a chance to overturn its decision in Roe, and the high court agreed in May to review a Mississippi law that aims to make most abortions after 15 weeks of pregnancy illegal. The case will be the court’s first abortion law review since Justice Amy Coney Barrett took the bench in October.

As the debate over abortion continues, here are key facts about Americans’ views on the topic, based on Pew Research Center polls.

Around six-in-ten U.S. adults (59%) say that abortion should be legal in all or most cases; 39% say it should be illegal in all or most cases, …

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While abortion has long divided political partisans, the partisan gap is now considerably wider than it was in the past.

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Attitudes about whether abortion should be legal vary widely by religious affiliation.

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Sizable minorities of Republicans and Democrats said in a 2019 survey that they did not agree with the dominant position on abortion policy of the party they identify with or lean toward.

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When it comes to the Supreme Court’s 1973 landmark abortion ruling, seven-in-ten Americans said in the Center’s 2019 survey that they would not like to see the Supreme Court completely overturn its Roe v. Wade decision.

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In a December 2017 survey, roughly half of Americans (48%) said having an abortion is morally wrong, while 20% said it is morally acceptable and 31% said it is not a moral issue.

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