Roe v. Wade, the landmark court case that legalized abortion across the country, still has the support of a majority of Americans, a Kaiser Family Foundation poll shows.
The poll results published Jan. 22, the 47th anniversary of Roe v. Wade, are based on interviews with a nationally representative sample of 1,215 adults, ages 18 years and over. The interviews were conducted online and by telephone from Dec. 20-30, 2019.
Eight survey findings:
1. Seventy percent of Americans do not want Roe v. Wade overturned. But support for the law is split along party lines, with a 91 percent of Democrats and 70 percent of independents supporting the law, and 57 percent of Republications wanting to overturn it.
2. Most people (67 percent) think state regulations on abortion providers or women seeking abortions are intended to make access to abortion more difficult.
3. Thirty-five percent of Americans think it has gotten harder for women in their communities to access abortion services in the last three years, while 16 percent think it has gotten easier.
4. Only 11 percent of Americans think abortion should be illegal in all cases.
5. Sixty-nine percent of Americans support laws requiring abortions to be performed solely by physicians who have hospital admitting privileges, and 65 percent oppose criminalizing doctors who provide abortions.
6. A majority of the public (56 percent) supports physicians showing and describing ultrasound images to women seeking an abortion.
7. Nearly 70 percent of people incorrectly think most abortions occur eight weeks or later into pregnancy.
8. Only 6 percent of Democrats, 4 percent of independents and 7 percent of Republicans say reproductive health issues, including abortion, are the most important issue for the 2020 presidential election.