A recent Gallup poll confirms:
60% of Americans feel abortion should be legal during the first trimester.
This number plummets to only 28% who feel abortion should be legal during the second trimester.
Just 13% of Americans-- a tiny minority-- feel that abortion should continue to be legal in the third trimester.
83% of Americans support abortion in the first trimester if the mother's life is in danger. 77% support abortion in the first trimester for cases of rape.
Interestingly, there was no statistical difference between men and women in overall support of abortions-- except that men were about 5% more likely to support late stage abortions.
This poll shows that public opinion on abortion has remained stable over time. It has a 4 pt margin of error.
https://www.npr.org/2018/06/13/6192...abortion-rights-wanes-as-pregnancy-progresses
My takeaways:
- The "pro life" vs. "pro choice" terms that this debate usually gets framed under do not adequately reflect the feelings of 60%+ Americans.
- I'm comforted in the fact that most Americans are not hardliners on this issue.
- The 13% who support third trimester abortion for any reason should get together with the 17% who don't support first trimester abortion even when the mother's life is in danger. These two groups should move to an island somewhere and leave the rest of us alone.