Infographic: Women’s True Views on Abortion
Abortion rights advocates continue to claim that opposing abortion is pandering to white men. If Democrats relented from their support for abortion access without restrictions, they would lose women, or so the story goes. Nothing could be further from the truth. Most women's views on abortion are nuanced. This infographic sheds light on the situation and is based on the only poll I could find that actually asks women what their views are with room for nuance. Turns out, most women oppose Planned Parenthood's extreme abortion agenda. Actually, if you drill into the data, white men are more likely to support abortion without restrictions than women, Latinas, or African-Americans!
Read on for sources and a transcript for the visually-impaired.
Key Points
- 13% Fully Agree with Planned Parenthood & DNC
- 13-23% Agree with H. Clinton, Obama, B. Clinton & Current Law*
- * Many states prohibit abortion after the first 6 months except for life and health of the mother, which doesn't map exactly with the options provided in this survey. Democratic presidents and nominated candidates roughly support current law. Source: An Overview of Abortion Laws, Guttmacher
- 22% Fully Agree with Pro-Life Movement
- 52% Agree with President Trump or Support Greater Restrictions
When Should Abortion Be Legal?
- 1 in 10 (13%) Women Say "Anytime"
- 1 in 10 (10%) Women Say "Only the First 6 Months"
- 3 in 10 (25%) Women Say "Only the First 3 Months"
- 3 in 10 (30%) Women Say "Never, Except for Rape, Incest & Life of the Mother"
- 1 in 10 (11%) Women Say "Never, Except for Life of the Mother"
- 1 in 10 (11%) Women Say "Never"
Answers to Vague Questions are Misleading
- Legality vs Morality, According to NARAL
- 69% Say “Morally Acceptable and Should Be Legal" or “Oppose Personally but Support Legality”
- 25% Say “Morally Wrong and Should Be Illegal”
- Legality, According to Pew
- 59% Say “Should be Legal in All/Most Cases”
- 37% Say “Should be Illegal in All/Most Cases”
- Labels, According to Gallop
- 50% “Pro-Choice”
- 41% “Pro-Life”
Positions of Political Parties & Politicians
- Democrat
- Democratic National Convention (“We will continue to oppose—and seek to overturn—federal and state laws and policies that impede a woman’s access to abortion.”)
- Hillary Clinton (“Bernie Sanders opposes all abortion restrictions. Hillary Clinton’s stance is murkier.”)
- Barack Obama (“I strongly believe that the state can properly restrict late-term abortions. I have said so repeatedly. All I’ve said is we should have a provision to protect the health of the mother”)
- Republican
- Republican National Convention (“We assert the sanctity of human life and affirm that the unborn child has a fundamental right to life which cannot be infringed. We support a human life amendment to the Constitution and legislation to make clear that the Fourteenth Amendment’s protections apply to children before birth.”)
- Donald Trump (Guthrie: “[The Republican platform] makes no exceptions for rape, for incest, for the life of the mother. Would you want to change the Republican platform to include the (abortion) exceptions that you have?” Trump: “Yes, I would.”)
- Mitt Romney
- John McCain
- George W. Bush