Twenty-nine years ago today, the 1973 landmark Supreme Court decision on Roe v. Wade launched a stream of legal and legislative challenges to the legality of abortion that continue unabated. The nation's ongoing abortion policy debate is not likely to end this year, but perhaps an understanding of Americans' views and wishes can be forged by the decision's 30th anniversary next year.
Gallup's long-term measure of public support for legalized abortion finds a majority of Americans supporting the procedure "only under certain circumstances" while about a quarter support it in all circumstances, and about half that number think it should be completely banned. Although there have been slight variations in these responses since the question was introduced in 1975, the same basic pattern has remained. So where do we go from here?
Gallup recently completed a comprehensive review of all major polling conducted on abortion over the past five years (see Related Items below), and reached some conclusions that could help clarify the abortion policies Americans really want. Beyond the complexity of public opinion about abortion -- and it is surely complex -- there are some clear avenues of consensus.
- Most Americans favor keeping abortions legal in the first
trimester and in special cases involving the health of the woman or
the health of the baby if it were to be born.
- Most Americans would outlaw abortions in the second and third
trimesters and when done for reasons of lifestyle choices or
convenience.
- Most Americans support restrictions on the distance from
clinics that anti-abortion protesters must stand when picketing or
attempting to approach patients.
- Most Americans support each of several restrictive abortion regulations proposed in recent years, such as a ban on "partial-birth abortion," requiring parental consent for minors, "informed consent" for women, and notification of husbands.
The Pro-Life/Pro-Choice Divide
Despite these areas of widespread agreement, the public is closely divided in its identification with the two major political labels in the debate. In an August 2001 Gallup survey, 46%of Americans considered themselves "pro-choice," and 46% called themselves "pro-life."
Furthermore, these two camps have strongly different views about the general legality of abortion. Nine in 10 Americans who identify with the pro-life side tell Gallup they believe abortion should be highly restricted -- either legal in only a few cases or illegal altogether. Two-thirds of the pro-choice side believe abortion should be legal in all or most cases.
The Common Ground
On the surface, it would seem that the situation is intractable. But deeper analysis of the polling data reveals that there are six major areas in which a majority of pro-choice and pro-life Americans agree.
In three areas, a majority of pro-life and pro-choice Americans favor legalized abortion. These are:
- Abortion to save the life of the woman
- Abortion in cases where the pregnancy was caused by rape or incest
- Abortion when the woman's physical health is at risk
In another three areas, a majority of the two groups oppose legalized abortion. These are:
- Abortion in the second trimester
- Abortion in the third trimester
- "Partial-birth" abortions
Key Points
Beyond these six areas of consensus, Gallup finds that the majority of pro-choice and pro-life adherents disagree about abortion policy in a host of specific areas.
The greatest degree of disagreement between the two groups is with respect to abortions in the first trimester: 90% of pro-choice respondents think this should be legal, while 58% of pro-life respondents think it should be illegal.
Substantial disagreement also exists over abortion for financial reasons, when the baby may be physically or mentally impaired, for the mental health of the woman, as well as over the French abortion pill known as RU-486. In all of these areas, the vast majority of pro-choice adherents feel abortion should be legal, while pro-life adherents feel it should be illegal.
Clearly, any attempt to legislate a compromise between both sides should start with areas of shared values, and, to borrow a phrase from Middle East diplomacy, it should leave the controversial issues such as first-trimester abortions and RU-486 for the "final status" talks.
