St. Louis, Mo., Jan 18, 2023 / 12:12 pm
A new poll has found that a majority of Americans support some limits on abortion and that Americans’ attitudes toward abortion have not significantly changed since last January, even with the overturning of Roe v. Wade taking place last June.
Conducted by Marist and sponsored by the Knights of Columbus, the 2023 poll found that when asked whether they identify as “pro-life” or “pro-choice,” 61% of Americans identify with the latter, compared with 39% who describe themselves as pro-life.
However, the poll also found that 69% of Americans support limiting abortion to, at most, the first three months of pregnancy. That figure is comparable to the 2022 poll, conducted before the overturning of Roe, in which 71% of respondents agreed that abortion should not be allowed after the first trimester. Only 21% of Americans overall said they support abortion on demand.
The U.S. Supreme Court’s June 2022 decision in Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization overturned a previously-found constitutional right to abortion instead returning the question of abortion policy to each individual state. In last year’s poll, respondents were asked their opinion on how abortion should be regulated, and 44% said abortion policy should be determined at the state level.