Roe v. Wade Has Positive Public Image

GALLUP NEWS SERVICE

PRINCETON, NJ -- A recent CNN/USA Today/Gallup poll finds that more Americans have a positive than negative reaction when they think of the Roe v. Wade landmark abortion decision that the Supreme Court handed down 30 years ago this week. A 53% majority of Americans consider Roe v. Wade to have been a "good thing" for the country. Only 30% consider it a "bad thing," while 17% are uncertain.

On the verge of this major anniversary, the Jan. 10-12 Gallup Poll finds Americans' general attitudes about abortion to be highly similar to what they have been for the last several years. Relatively small minorities of Americans take either of the hard-core positions on the issue, saying either that abortion should be legal in all circumstances or that it should be legal in no circumstances. The majority are equivocal, saying it should be legal, but on a more or less limited basis.

Detailed Abortion Views

Roughly one in four Americans take a firm liberal position on abortion, saying it should be legal "under any circumstances," and another 14% lean in this direction, saying abortion should be legal in "most circumstances." Fewer than one in five Americans take a firm conservative position, saying abortion should be "illegal in all circumstances," but another 42% lean in this direction, saying it should be legal "only in a few circumstances."

Opinions on Abortion Legality

Jan. 10-12, 2003

If the percentages for the two more conservative and the two more liberal positions are combined, Americans appear to lean in a conservative direction on abortion by a 60% to 38% margin. However, this combination of the categories should not be equated with "pro-life" and "pro-choice" positions. A Gallup survey from May 2002 addressed this issue directly, showing the public to be evenly divided in its attachment to those labels: 47% of Americans considered themselves pro-choice, while 46% were self-defined as pro-life.

Little Change in Recent Years

Gallup's long-term trend on abortion is based on a three-way division of opinion: 1) legal under any circumstances, 2) legal only under certain circumstances, and 3) illegal in all circumstances. On this basis, the public's abortion attitudes have been stable at the current level since about 1996. Americans were somewhat more pro-choice in their orientation between 1990 and 1995, when an average of one-third of Americans believed abortion should be legal under any circumstances. But current opinion on this issue is very similar to where it stood prior to 1990.

Abortion Attitudes 1975-2003

Beyond this general attitudinal framework, the poll finds Americans widely supportive of keeping abortion legal in a variety of situations involving the physical and mental well-being of the mother as well as if the baby were to be born physically or mentally impaired. Sizable majorities of Americans believe abortion should be legal when the woman's life is endangered, when her physical or mental health is endangered, and when there is evidence that the baby may be born physically or mentally impaired. Three-quarters support abortion rights in cases in which the pregnancy is caused by rape or incest. Perhaps as a result of these attitudes, most Americans (59%) say they oppose a constitutional amendment that would ban abortion in all circumstances except when necessary to save the life of the mother.

Circumstances in Which Americans Believe Abortion Should Be Legal

Jan. 10-12, 2003

Public Would Curb Access to Abortion in Many Areas

The same Gallup Poll shows that while Americans support abortion rights in matters of serious health issues, they oppose it in cases where the woman or family cannot afford to raise the child (by a 61% to 35% margin).

Moreover, Americans make a clear distinction between access to abortion in the first trimester versus later in pregnancy. Asked to think about the legality of abortion on a trimester basis, two-thirds favor it in the first trimester, but an equal number oppose it in the second trimester, and that opposition rises to 84% for abortion in the third trimester. The majority (70%) also believes it should be illegal to perform the specific abortion procedure conducted in the last 6 months of pregnancy known as "partial birth abortion," except in cases necessary to save the life of the mother.

Abortion Attitudes: By Trimester

Jan. 10-12, 2003

Americans also support the major procedural limitations on abortion that have been at the center of legislative and legal debate between pro-choice and pro-life forces in recent years:

• Nearly 9 in 10 Americans (88%) favor a law requiring doctors to inform patients about alternatives to abortion before performing the procedure.
• Nearly 8 in 10 (78%) favor a law requiring women seeking abortions to wait 24 hours before having the procedure done.
• About three-quarters (73%) favor a law requiring women under 18 to get parental consent for any abortion.
• Seventy-two percent favor a law requiring that the husband of a married woman be notified if she decides to have an abortion.

Of these, the Supreme Court (in its 1992 decision in Planned Parenthood v. Casey) has upheld the legality of a 24-hour waiting period, mandatory abortion counseling (informed consent), and parental consent for minors. But in that same case, the court struck down the provision of the Pennsylvania law requiring prior spousal consent before a married woman could obtain an abortion.

Demographic Differences

The following table details abortion views according to major subgroups of the population. This latest survey confirms what Gallup has shown for many years:

• Differences in views on abortion by gender are minor.
• Older Americans and those living in the South and Midwest regions of the country tend to be the most conservative on abortion.
• Support for abortion increases with formal education, and is highest among those with postgraduate education.

The poll also finds large differences in views between Republicans and Democrats on this issue, with Republicans much more likely than Democrats to favor making abortion illegal in all or most circumstances. These differences by partisan orientation have been evident in Gallup abortion surveys for at least the last 2 decades.

Comparing Americans' answers about the ideal legality of abortion with their overall impressions of Roe v. Wade provides some insights into the nature of public support for the 1973 decision. Those who consider Roe v. Wade to have been bad for the country are almost uniform in their belief that abortion should be limited to only a few or no circumstances (88% hold this combination of views). Those who consider the decision to have been good for the country are more likely to believe abortion should be widely available (58%), but a substantial minority of this pro-Roe group (41%) favors a more restrictive policy.

Survey Methods

These results are based on telephone interviews with a randomly selected national sample of 1,002 adults, 18 years and older, conducted Jan. 10-12, 2003. For results based on this sample, one can say with 95 percent confidence that the maximum error attributable to sampling and other random effects is plus or minus 3 percentage points. In addition to sampling error, question wording and practical difficulties in conducting surveys can introduce error or bias into the findings of public opinion polls.

Do you think abortions should be legal under any circumstances, legal only under certain circumstances, or illegal in all circumstances?

(If certain circumstances) Do you think abortion should be legal in most circumstances or only in a few circumstances?

COMBINED RESPONSES

Now I am going to read some specific situations under which an abortion might be considered. For each one, please say whether you think abortion should be legal in that situation, or illegal. How about -- [RANDOM ORDER]

A. When the woman's life is endangered

B. When the woman's physical health is endangered

C. When the woman's mental health is endangered

D. When there is evidence that the baby may be physically impaired

E. When there is evidence that the baby may be mentally impaired

F. When the pregnancy was caused by rape or incest

G. When the woman or family cannot afford to raise the child

SUMMARY TABLE: SUPPORT FOR ABORTION IN DIFFERENT CIRCUMSTANCES

Thinking more generally, do you think abortion should generally be legal or generally illegal during each of the following stages of pregnancy. How about --[RANDOM ORDER]?

A. In the first three months of pregnancy

B. In the second three months of pregnancy

C. In the last three months of pregnancy

Next, do you favor or oppose each of the following proposals. How about -- [READ AND ROTATE A-D FIRST, THEN ROTATE E AND F]

A. A law requiring women seeking abortions to wait 24 hours before having the procedure done

B. A law requiring doctors to inform patients about alternatives to abortion before performing the procedure

C. A law requiring women under 18 to get parental consent for any abortion

D. A law requiring that the husband of a married woman be notified if she decides to have an abortion

E. A law which would make it illegal to perform a specific abortion procedure conducted in the last six months of pregnancy known as a "partial birth abortion," except in cases necessary to save the life of the mother

F. A constitutional amendment to ban abortion in all circumstances, except when necessary to save the life of the mother

SUMMARY TABLE: SUPPORT FOR ABORTION IN DIFFERENT CIRCUMSTANCES

As you may know, in 1973, the U.S. Supreme Court announced a landmark decision on abortion known as Roe versus Wade. Do you think that decision was a - [ROTATED: good thing (or a) bad thing] - for the country?