Nearly one year ago, the United States Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade, which legalized abortion nationwide in 1973 and resulted in over 63 million abortions nationwide, according to a 2022 report from the National Right to Life Committee (NRLC). After the fall of Roe, several states had trigger laws in place meant to outlaw or restrict abortion immediately. Other states, like Florida, passed abortion bans in the months that followed.
According to a Gallup poll released Wednesday, the majority of Americans oppose abortion later in pregnancy. But, 37 percent of respondents said it should be legal in the second trimester of pregnancy, and 22 percent said this for the third trimester of pregnancy as well. This, Gallup noted, is the highest recorded since 1996.
A record high of 67 percent of Americans said that abortion should “generally be legal” in the first three months of pregnancy. The last recorded high of 67 percent occurred in May 2022, after the Dobbs decision leaked, showing that the justices planned to overturn Roe.
In the results, 61 percent of Americans said they think overturning Roe was a “bad thing,” while 38 percent considered it a “good thing.” Fifty-two percent of respondents claimed that abortion is “morally acceptable.” Thirty-four percent of respondents said “abortion should be legal under any circumstances.”
Gallup noted in its write-up that the “middle position” on abortion has always been the lead response, but lately, those wanting abortion on demand has increased (via Gallup):
Since 1975, Gallup has asked Americans if abortion should be legal under any circumstances, legal only under certain circumstances or illegal in all circumstances. The middle position has always been the lead response, while the proportions favoring full legality or full illegality have varied.
The percentages wanting abortion legal under any circumstances and illegal in all circumstances were closely matched in 2019. Since then, the preference for abortion being legal under any circumstances has swelled, rising from 25% that year to 32% by 2021 and 35% in 2022. It is currently 34%.
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Since 1994, Gallup has asked those taking the middle position (saying abortion should be legal under certain circumstances) whether they want it to be legal in most or only a few circumstances. Historically, about three times as many have preferred it to be legal in only a few circumstances as legal in most, and that is the case today (36% vs. 13%, respectively). However, when combining these nuanced views with the more absolute positions for and against abortion, the country is now evenly split between those favoring expansive versus restrictive access to abortion.
Specifically, close to half of Americans, 47%, now say abortion should be legal in all (34%) or most (13%) circumstances, while a similar proportion, 49%, want it legal in only a few (36%) or illegal in all (13%) circumstances. This is a change from most of the trend when the majority wanted abortion legal in only a few or no cases. The only exception was last year, when support for it being broadly legal jumped to 53% after the Dobbs leak.
When it comes to third trimester abortions, specifically, “less than half of all three party groups [Republicans, Democrats, and Independents] think abortion should be legal in the third trimester, although Democrats are split on this, with 44% in favor, 44 opposed and 11% saying it depends.”
Gallup noted that support for abortion rights increased mainly among Democrats, and the position that “abortion should be legal without restrictions” has increased among them steadily since the late 1990s.
Last year, Republican Sen. Lindsey Graham (SC) introduced a bill to create a federal ban on abortions at 15 weeks. This bill, NPR reported, was an attempt for lawmakers to “adopt a party wide consensus on the issue,” and as Democrats push for extreme abortion-on-demand legislation.
