WASHINGTON, D.C. — Three years after the U.S. Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade, Gallup finds historically wide gender gaps in Americans’ views on abortion, with women far more likely than men to identify as pro-choice, to want abortion broadly legal and to consider abortion morally acceptable.
Women’s increased support for abortion on all three questions that Gallup tracks annually was first evident immediately after a draft of the Supreme Court’s decision in Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization was leaked in May 2022. Since then, their support has held steady or expanded, while men’s support has eased slightly.
Relatedly, support for abortion rights expanded in 2022 among Democrats and, to a lesser extent, among independents, but it has since waned among Republicans. As a result, national support for abortion rights in Gallup’s latest poll, conducted May 1-18, is modestly higher on all three metrics than it was before Dobbs.
Dobbs Effect Stronger Among Women Than Men
The widest of today’s gender gaps on the three abortion questions, 20 percentage points, is seen in Americans’ identification as pro-choice, with 61% of women and 41% of men using that label to describe their views. This compares with a 13-point gap in 2022 and no more than 10-point differences in any reading before Dobbs.
The gap has expanded since 2022 because pro-choice identity has dipped among men, from 48% to 41%, while it has held steady among women. Currently, 32% of women and 54% of men identify as pro-life.
Similarly, there is now a record-high 17-point gap between women (57%) and men (40%) in their belief that abortion is morally acceptable and a record-high 15-point gap in women’s (56%) and men’s (41%) support for abortion being legal in all or most circumstances. These divergences are also the widest since 2022 and represent a marked change from the two decades prior to Dobbs, when women’s and men’s views were much closer.
Pro-Choice Identity Prevailing Nationally Since Dobbs
Americans’ description of their abortion views as either pro-choice or pro-life has varied over the three decades Gallup has tracked it. The pro-choice position prevailed in the mid-1990s before sentiment switched to a slim lead for pro-choice in most years from 1997 through 2008, after which the pro-choice and pro-life positions were typically more closely matched through 2021.
In 2022, the pro-choice position jumped into a 16-point lead and has since remained ahead of the pro-life group, albeit by a slimmer eight-point margin this year (51% vs. 43%, respectively).
For at least a quarter century leading up to Dobbs, slightly more Americans thought abortion should be completely illegal, or legal in only a few circumstances, than said it should be legal under any or most circumstances. Immediately after the Dobbs draft was leaked, opinion tilted in the other direction, with the majority favoring expansive rather than limited abortion rights. Today, the two outlooks are about even, with 49% favoring legality in all or most circumstances and 48% preferring it be legal in only a few or no circumstances.
Looking at the more detailed results, 30% of Americans currently think abortion should be legal under any circumstances, 19% support it being legal under most circumstances, 35% say it should be legal in only a few circumstances, and 13% want it to be illegal in all circumstances. Prior to Dobbs, roughly 20% of Americans typically said abortion should be illegal in all circumstances, but no more than 13% have held that view since.
Perceived Morality of Abortion Has Shifted
The year before the Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade in Dobbs, Americans were about evenly divided between thinking abortion is morally acceptable or morally wrong. That followed two decades when those saying abortion is morally wrong usually prevailed.
Since Dobbs, the plurality has consistently said abortion is morally acceptable rather than wrong, including by 49% to 40% today.
Democrats Have Rallied Around Abortion Rights; GOP Has Softened
Increased support for abortion rights among women is reflected in parallel shifts among Democrats and political independents.
In terms of legality, Democrats had been growing more supportive of expansive abortion rights prior to the Dobbs decision, with the percentage saying abortion should be legal in all or most cases gradually rising from 50% in 2010 to 69% in 2021. But in 2022, after the Dobbs leak, it jumped 13 points to 82% and stands at 81% today.
Independents have become moderately more supportive of abortion’s legality since Dobbs, rising from 44% preferring it be legal in all or most circumstances in 2021 to 51% in 2022 and remaining at that level today. Meanwhile, close to 20% of Republicans have held this view across the full trend, with no clear change since 2021.
Partisans’ views on the morality of abortion and their identification as pro-choice have followed the same pattern.
- Democrats’ already elevated belief that abortion is morally acceptable and their identification as pro-choice surged in 2022, and both positions have since remained high.
- Independents’ agreement that abortion is morally acceptable and their identification as pro-choice each rose modestly in 2022, and the latter has since increased further.
- Republicans’ belief that abortion is morally acceptable showed little change immediately after Dobbs. This year, however, it has dipped six points from its 2024 level to 20% — toward the low end of the GOP range for this question.
- Similarly, the percentage of Republicans identifying as pro-choice has fallen to a record-low 16%, after showing little change in the first few years after Dobbs. A record-high 78% of Republicans now identify as pro-life.
Changes in Men’s and Women’s Abortion Views Differ by Party
Combined Gallup data for the two abortion polls before the Dobbs leak (in May 2020 and May 2021) and the four polls taken since the leak (in May of each year from 2022 through 2025) show that the largest pro-abortion rights shifts have occurred among Democratic men, Democratic women and independent women.
At the same time, there have been no meaningful changes in the positions taken by independent men or Republican women, while Republican men have become slightly less likely to believe abortion is morally acceptable and to identify as pro-choice.
Bottom Line
The Supreme Court’s decision in Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization appears to have had an immediate impact on U.S. public opinion about abortion after a draft opinion of the decision was leaked in May 2022. Women have shifted more than men on the issue, but this masks the fact that Democratic men have joined Democratic and independent women in becoming strongly more supportive of abortion rights since Dobbs. Essentially, the groups that were already the most supportive of abortion have become more so, while Republican women and men have maintained their broad opposition to abortion rights or become slightly less supportive.
The net result is that the gender and partisan gaps in Americans’ views on abortion are at historical highs, and the country as a whole has moved slightly left in its abortion views. Although some of the changes seen in 2022 have eased, the public opinion landscape remains more accepting of abortion than it was prior to Dobbs.
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