KFF Health NewsJun 28 2024 The policy high point for abortion opponents — the Supreme Court's 2022 decision to strike down Roe v. Wade — is proving a low point for public support for their cause. More American adults consider themselves "pro-choice" than at any time in the past 30 years, according to a recent survey from Gallup: 54%, compared with 41% who identify as "pro-life.
Eight in 10 Democratic women in states with possible ballot measures said they were "absolutely certain" they would vote — and also said they were more likely to back Biden compared with Democratic women in other states, KFF found. In pivotal Arizona, U.S. Senate Republican candidate Kari Lake, who embraced a near-complete abortion ban while running for governor two years ago, recently said "a full ban on abortion is not where the people are." In Nevada, the GOP Senate nominee, Sam Brown, who as recently as 2022 headed up a branch of a conservative anti-abortion group, has said he will respect his state's permissive abortion law and would not vote for a nationwide ban if elected.
The KFF survey found broad, strong support for preserving access to abortion in cases of pregnancy-related emergencies: 86% of women voters — including 79% of Republican women — support laws protecting access in those circumstances. Democrats and Democratic-aligned groups are exploiting Republicans' discomfort with the issue. On the day Senate Democrats forced a vote on legislation that would have guaranteed a federal right to contraception, a group called Americans for Contraception floated a giant balloon shaped like an IUD near the Capitol.