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8/18/19, 12(01 AM5 facts about the abortion debate in America | Pew Research Center
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5 facts about the abortion debate inAmericaBY MICHAEL LIPKA AND JOHN GRAMLICH
Abortion-rights advocates (right) and anti-abortion advocates (left) rally outside of the Supreme Court in 2016. (DrewAngerer/Getty Images)
More than four decades after the U.S. Supreme Court’s Roe v. Wade decision, opponentsand supporters of abortion rights are still battling over the issue in court, at the ballot boxand in state legislatures. A recently enacted Alabama law has been described as thenation’s most restrictive, and several other states also have passed new restrictions on
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8/18/19, 12(01 AM5 facts about the abortion debate in America | Pew Research Center
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abortion with an eye toward giving the Supreme Court a chance to overturn its decision inRoe.
As the debate over abortion continues, here are five key facts about Americans’ views onthe topic, based on recent Pew Research Center polling:
About six-in-ten U.S. adults (58%) said in a 2018 survey that abortion shouldbe legal in all or most cases, compared with 37% who said it should be
illegal all or most of the time. Public opinion on this question has been relatively stableover more than two decades of Pew Research Center polling, and there is little differencebetween the views of men and women.
There are substantial partisan and ideological divides on abortion, withDemocrats much more likely than Republicans to say it should be legal in all or mostcases. This gap is even larger between self-described liberal Democrats and conservativeRepublicans: Roughly eight-in-ten liberal Democrats (84%) said in the 2018 survey thatabortion should be legal in all or most cases, compared with only about three-in-tenconservatives in the GOP (29%).
8/18/19, 12(01 AM5 facts about the abortion debate in America | Pew Research Center
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When it comes to the Supreme Court’s landmark 1973 ruling, about seven-in-ten Americans (69%) said Roe v. Wade should not be completely
overturned, according to a survey conducted in late 2016. Democrats were far more likelythan Republicans to hold this view, and there were also significant differences byeducation level and religious affiliation. Nearly nine-in-ten of those with postgraduatedegrees (88%) said the court should not overturn the decision, versus about seven-in-tenof those with a college degree (74%) or some college experience (70%) and 62% of thosewith a high school diploma or less education. There were no significant differences on thisquestion by gender.
In a December 2017 survey, roughly half of Americans (48%) said having anabortion is morally wrong, while 20% said they think it is morally acceptable and
31% said it is not a moral issue. These views also differed by religious affiliation: Aboutthree-quarters of evangelical Protestants (77%) said having an abortion is morally wrong,but just 24% of religiously unaffiliated people agreed.
The vast majority of Americans expect abortion to remain at least mostly legal inthe U.S. A survey conducted in December 2018 asked Americans what they think thestatus of abortion laws in the country will be in 2050; about three-quarters said it will
8/18/19, 12(01 AM5 facts about the abortion debate in America | Pew Research Center
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either be legal with no restrictions (22%) or legal with some restrictions (55%). Far fewersaid it will be illegal except in certain cases (16%) or illegal with no exceptions (5%).
Note: This is an update to a post originally published Jan. 22, 2014.
Related posts:
A majority of Americans think abortion will still be legal in 30 years, but with somerestrictions
On abortion, persistent divides between – and within – the two parties
American religious groups vary widely in their views of abortion
Topics: Abortion, Social Values, Political Attitudes and Values
Michael Lipka is an editorial manager of religion research at Pew ResearchCenter.
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John Gramlich is a senior writer/editor at Pew Research Center.
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