Democrats and Republicans are divided over how abortion policy should be implemented in America and what’s more, those divisions clearly exist within members of both sides.
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More than half of Republicans prefer each state to make its own policy on abortion. This includes 55% liberal Republicans and 69% conservative Republicans. Very few (34% of liberal Democrats and 17% of liberal Democrats) feel the same way.
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Most Democrats prefer a single national policy that is consistent across all states, with 83% of liberal Democrats and 66% of liberal Democrats. Some 45% of moderate Republicans and 31% of conservative Republicans share this view.
In June, the US Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade, leaving abortion policy to the states; 44 states prohibit certain abortions after a certain point in pregnancy, According to the Guttmacher Institute, A public-health think tank that supports abortion access.
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,‘We find that Americans who support legal abortion in most or all cases prefer a single national policy.’ ,
Overall, 56% of Americans prefer a single national policy, while 43% prefer state-level policies.
So what is going on?
Chris, a co-author of the report, wrote, “We find that Americans who support legal abortion in most or all cases prefer a single national policy, while those who do prefer abortions in most circumstances.” I am in favor of state-based policymaking.” Karpowitz and Jeremy C. Pope, both professors at Brigham Young University.
One possible explanation for this subtle approach to abortion: The former – those who support legal abortion – are still in Roe v. Wade is in the process of being reversed, and may be upset by states that have introduced abortion, while the latter – those who are against abortion in most cases – seeks state intervention to increase laws against abortion access. See it as the path of least resistance.
the outcome . are from 2022 American Family Survey by Deseret News, a publishing company based in Salt Lake City, Utah, and the Center for the Study of Elections and Democracy at Brigham Young University. In its eighth year, the survey polled 3,000 Americans last August by gender, race, age and education.
The survey also found that only 7% of Americans do not support access to frequent abortions, which means banning any abortion procedure in all scenarios. This is compared to the other 7% in favor of full access across all scenarios.
“A greater effort to both understand and communicate the complexity of Americans’ abortion beliefs may bear fruit for politicians seeking a new balance on these issues,” the authors said.
mid term election
The results are timely: midterm elections are weeks away and abortion issues are expected to be front and center.
“Understanding the nuances in Americans’ abortion beliefs, including the diversity of possibilities of abortion access or access denied, will become more important in the upcoming congressional elections and in more states to introduce and debate abortion-related rules.” likely,” Karpowitz and Pope wrote.
“Often, media reports focus on the climax of this debate – either complete prohibition or access to the last days of pregnancy. But both of those positions are unpopular, as the new questions we posed make clear,” he Told.
Republican Senator Lindsey Graham of South Carolina introduced a national abortion ban bill in mid-September. The bill will prohibit any abortion procedure after 15 weeks of pregnancy, with few exceptions. The ban is stricter than many conservative states’ abortion bans since Roe v. Wade was overturned last summer.
,‘Often, media reports focus on the extremes of this debate – either complete prohibition or access to the last days of pregnancy.’,
The bill met strong opposition from Democrats and the White House. Some Republicans even refrained from embracing the bill face-to-face. The proposed ban is unlikely to become law, as Democrats hold the majority of House seats.
Graham introduced another abortion ban bill last year, which would have restricted the procedure after 20 weeks. The previous proposal unifies Republicans, with a total of 218 Republican co-sponsors. (Graham did not respond to a request for comment.)
The authors of the American Family Survey noted complexities in attitudes toward abortion policies on both sides of the political divide, and warned that failing to see those nuances could miss opportunities to reach some sort of common ground.
Pope and Karpowitz wrote in the report, “Those who generally support abortion access also see a role for regulatory limits, and those who want to reduce access to abortion are facing a number of possible exceptions. also adopt.”
“Candidates and elected officials who go completely to extremes will lose out on opportunities to find a new policy that reflects the nuance and complexity that most Americans have clearly embraced,” he said.
