New polling from Gallup shows that more Americans are dissatisfied with abortion policies in the U.S. than ever before in the 23 years the organization has collected data on the topic.
Nearly 7 in 10 Americans (69 percent) say they are dissatisfied with current abortion policies, up from 3 in 10 (30 percent) who said the same thing a year ago, six months before the U.S. Supreme Court’s Dobbs v. Women’s Health ruling, which overturned federal abortion protections that had been established in Roe v. Wade.
A plurality of respondents who indicated they were dissatisfied with current U.S. abortion policies said there are too many restrictions on the procedure. Just over a quarter (26 percent) said they were satisfied with the laws that are currently in place, while 15 percent said they wanted abortion rules to be more restrictive and nearly half (46 percent) said they wanted fewer restrictions.
As a result of the Dobbs ruling, 12 states now have abortion bans in effect, and many more have tightened abortion restrictions, Gallup pointed out in its analysis of the polling data.
Abortion rights advocates generally oppose the idea of tying abortion rights and bodily autonomy to public opinion polling. However, in the wake of the Supreme Court’s decision this summer to upend nearly half a century of abortion rights protections, the Gallup polling highlights how state legislatures’ tightening of abortion restrictions runs contrary to what their constituents actually want.
Dissatisfaction with current abortion policy may also be the result of state legislatures’ apparent attempts to mislead the public about restrictions on Plan B and abortion medication. As Truthout’s Mike Ludwig recently reported, many abortion rights advocates believe anti-abortionists are purposely misleading people about the legality of these drugs.
“Amid furious legal battles and legislative onslaughts against reproductive rights, millions of people across the country are unsure whether they can legally obtain and use the abortion medication mifepristone, as well as the emergency contraception known as Plan B,” Ludwig wrote. “Advocates say the confusion reflects a favorite tactic of the anti-abortion movement, which is to intentionally write laws to confuse and mislead patients and their doctors in order to deter reproductive care.”
Truthout Is Preparing to Meet Trump’s Agenda With Resistance at Every Turn
Dear Truthout Community,
If you feel rage, despondency, confusion and deep fear today, you are not alone. We’re feeling it too. We are heartsick. Facing down Trump’s fascist agenda, we are desperately worried about the most vulnerable people among us, including our loved ones and everyone in the Truthout community, and our minds are racing a million miles a minute to try to map out all that needs to be done.
We must give ourselves space to grieve and feel our fear, feel our rage, and keep in the forefront of our mind the stark truth that millions of real human lives are on the line. And simultaneously, we’ve got to get to work, take stock of our resources, and prepare to throw ourselves full force into the movement.
Journalism is a linchpin of that movement. Even as we are reeling, we’re summoning up all the energy we can to face down what’s coming, because we know that one of the sharpest weapons against fascism is publishing the truth.
There are many terrifying planks to the Trump agenda, and we plan to devote ourselves to reporting thoroughly on each one and, crucially, covering the movements resisting them. We also recognize that Trump is a dire threat to journalism itself, and that we must take this seriously from the outset.
After the election, the four of us sat down to have some hard but necessary conversations about Truthout under a Trump presidency. How would we defend our publication from an avalanche of far right lawsuits that seek to bankrupt us? How would we keep our reporters safe if they need to cover outbreaks of political violence, or if they are targeted by authorities? How will we urgently produce the practical analysis, tools and movement coverage that you need right now — breaking through our normal routines to meet a terrifying moment in ways that best serve you?
It will be a tough, scary four years to produce social justice-driven journalism. We need to deliver news, strategy, liberatory ideas, tools and movement-sparking solutions with a force that we never have had to before. And at the same time, we desperately need to protect our ability to do so.
We know this is such a painful moment and donations may understandably be the last thing on your mind. But we must ask for your support, which is needed in a new and urgent way.
We promise we will kick into an even higher gear to give you truthful news that cuts against the disinformation and vitriol and hate and violence. We promise to publish analyses that will serve the needs of the movements we all rely on to survive the next four years, and even build for the future. We promise to be responsive, to recognize you as members of our community with a vital stake and voice in this work.
Please dig deep if you can, but a donation of any amount will be a truly meaningful and tangible action in this cataclysmic historical moment.
We’re with you. Let’s do all we can to move forward together.
With love, rage, and solidarity,
Maya, Negin, Saima, and Ziggy