Since the fall of both Roe v. Wade and Planned Parenthood v. Casey, several polls have come out claiming that the majority of Americans support abortion and oppose the Supreme Court’s decision in Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health. The Biden administration has unveiled a new “Reproductive Rights” website and task force dedicated to create avenues for women to terminate a pregnancy.
Also in recent weeks, pro-abortion Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-MA) said that pro-life crisis pregnancy centers need to be shut down. She also said that abortion behemoth Planned Parenthood needs to set up outposts on federal lands in National Parks, an idea the White House dismissed.
Pro-life organizations have been working to counter the misinformation spread by pro-abortion lawmakers and organizations about all things related to Roe, medication abortions, and miscarriages versus abortions, among other things. A poll from a pro-life ob-gyn organization shows what Americans think about medication abortions and third-trimester abortions.
The American Association of Pro-Life Obstetricians and Gynecologists (AAPLOG) released poll results this month that give insight into Americans’ opinions on Roe and abortion procedures. The results show how respondents' views change when they understand the details of what abortion entails.
The first question posed to respondents was “do you support or oppose the 1973 Supreme Court decision Roe v. Wade, which recognized a Constitutional right to abortion?” Fifty-three percent of respondents “strongly” or “somewhat” supported Roe. Thirty-one percent “strongly” or “somewhat” opposed Roe.
The follow up question was “do you support or oppose Roe v. Wade if you knew that it allowed abortion up to birth, including late-term abortions, when the fetus can feel pain?” This question shows how Americans’ opinions shift on the issue.
In the results, 28 percent of respondents said they support Roe knowing that it allowed abortion up to birth, including third trimester abortions, when the fetus can feel pain. A majority, 56 percent, said they oppose it.
In the findings, 62 percent of respondents said that in the eighth week of pregnancy, a fetus that responds to touch is a human life. Once there is an indication of human life, 59 percent of respondents said that they agree that abortion should not be permitted.
Broken down, 55 percent of respondents said that abortion should be legal up to six weeks gestation. Eighteen percent said seven to 12 weeks. Only three percent said 13 to 15 weeks. However, 13 percent said it should be allowed for a full term baby to be aborted.
As for medication abortions, 54 percent of respondents said they oppose the unsupervised, at-home use of medication abortion pills. As Townhall has covered, medication abortions will become a new battleground in the abortion issue since Roe fell.
Wrapping up, respondents were asked “do you agree or disagree that we need transparency in data collection to truly assess the risks abortion presents to women and their health?” Seventy-nine percent agreed. Eight percent disagreed. Eighty-four percent said that abortion clinics should be held to the same standards of care as other health facilities.
The survey among 1,600 registered nationwide was conducted from June 3 through 6 and has a margin of error of plus or minus 2.45 percentage points.
In a press call, doctors from AAPLOG discussed the poll findings with Townhall that show Americans’ views on abortion as they learn more about what is involved.
“We believe that women in this country deserve accurate information, and the majority of the country, based on this polling data, would agree with that,” Dr. Christina Francis, MD, said on the call. She is the CEO-elect of AAPLOG.
“The second point that we took away from this is that everyone is in agreement that abortion providers should be held to the same standard of care as other medical professionals. For so long, we’ve heard that abortion is healthcare. Then, it needs to be treated as such,” she continued.
“We believe that women can be empowered with information, and that information needs to be accurate,” she added, mentioning that “one of the basic tenets of medical ethics that we [AAPLOG] practice by is informed consent, meaning that for anything that you recommend for a patient, you discuss the risks, benefits and alternatives of whatever it is that you’re discussing.”
As for medication abortions, Francis noted that this is the next frontier in the issue of abortion.
“And finally, what became very clear is that we need to protect women, our patients, from the risks and the lies of this push for DIY medication abortions,” Francis said. “This push started long before the Dobbs decision and long before Roe was overturned. This has been something that the abortion industry has been working towards for several years and in fact, at the beginning of the pandemic, the restrictions that the FDA put on medication abortions were temporarily enjoined and then lifted.”
Townhall covered in December how the FDA allowed abortion pills to be permanently available without an in-person doctor’s visit via telehealth. Ahead of the Roe overturn, online abortion pill startups were launching to “fill the void.”
“They [patients] need to be seen in person so that we can know exactly how far along they are in pregnancy,” Francis said, among other things. “This simply can’t happen on a website.”
