By Maria Ortiz
May 16, 2024, 00:14 AM EDT
A majority of Americans continue to express support for abortion rights, nearly two years after the Supreme Court overturned the 1973 Roe vs. Wade decision that guaranteed the national right to abortion in the United States.
About 6 in 10 Americans, 63%, say abortion should be legal in all or most cases. This share has increased 4 percentage points since 2021, the year before the 2022 decision in Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization that rescinded federal abortion protection.
The new Pew Research Center survey, conducted April 8-14, 2024, among 8,709 adults, shows ongoing, and often partisan and political, divisions over attitudes toward abortion. But since before Roe was overturned, Both parties have seen a modest increase in the share of those who say abortion should be legal.
Democrats and Democratic-leaning independents They overwhelmingly say that abortion should be legal in all or most cases (85%), with almost unanimous support among Liberal Democrats.
Compared, Republicans and their supporters are much less likely (41%) to say that abortion should be legal in all or most cases. However, two-thirds of moderate and liberal Republicans still say that’s the way it should be.
Access to abortion
Approximately six in ten Americans of both parties say getting an abortion in the area where they live should be at least somewhat easycompared to four in ten or fewer who say it would be difficult.
48% of Democrats say getting an abortion should be easier than it is now, while only 15% of Republicans say the same.
Instead, 40% of Republicans say it should be more difficult (only 11% of Democrats say this).
Across race and ethnicity, support for legal abortion is higher among African American (73%) and Asian (76%) adults compared to white (60%) and Hispanic (59%) adults.
Access to medical abortion
Americans say that medical abortion should be legal by a margin of more than two to one (54% vs. 20%). A quarter say they are not sure.
Like opinions on the legality of abortion in general, Democrats and Republicans differ greatly in their views on medical abortion:
Republicans are very divided, but they are slightly more likely to say it should be legal (37%) than illegal (32%). Another 30% are not sure.
Democrats (73%) They overwhelmingly say that medical abortion should be legal. Only 8% say it should be illegal, while 19% are unsure.
In most other demographic groups, Americans generally support medical abortion.
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