Survey shows broad opposition to abortion restrictions among women of reproductive age

Taking a look at the data is interesting – the women of childbearing age, who will be subjected to the most severe restrictions on abortion, are generally against it, according to a new survey. 
 
Latest KFF data published on Wednesday also shows that 74% of women in the U. S, 18-49 years old believe that abortion should remain legal. Over two-thirds back a federal right to abortion — the stance of Vice President Kamala Harris — in a presidential poll where abortion rights will likely be a decisive issue for a large number of people. 
 
Young Republican women of reproductive age supported legal abortion in most or all cases as did nearly half of them. 
 
Ex-president of the United States of America Donald Trump has acknowledged that states should determine the legal permissiveness of abortion but 74-percent of the women interviewed had a different opinion. The figure, however, includes women who instead desire a national ban; this, according to Brittni Frederiksen, an associate director of women’s health policy at KFF and the survey taker. Some 42 per cent of Republican women who disapprove of leaving abortion policies up to individual states held the view, she said. 
 
The views described stem from the June KFF Women’s Health Survey of 6,200 women aged between 18-64 across the United States on issues such as abortion, contraception and mental health, conducted between mid-May and mid-June. The findings presented on Wednesday are actually more specific and are based on the responses to the questions about the attitudes towards abortion of women of child-bearing age; 3,900 women provided answers. 
 
The findings are especially valuable since the topic is topical and appeared in the course of the campaign. That makes eight states where abortion-related measures are on the ballot; Arizona and Missouri made the official list on Tuesday. Comparable measures have the requisite signatures in three other states; they await certification. 
 
A poll conducted by KFF in February showed that one in eight voters considered abortion to be the most pressing self-identified issue in the election and only half considered it to be very important. In May another Gallup Poll indicated that 31% voters would vote only a major-ticket candidate who was most similar to them on the abortion issue. 
 
Trump has recently sought to play down the issue, nonetheless. He said at the news conference, last week it was going to be a “very small issue” in the election. 
 
Harris on the other hand has been keen on it. 
 
“We expect women to make decisions for their own body and not have the government decide for them And when Congress passes legislation on the restoration of reproductive rights which they have recently done I, as president will sign the legislation,” said the former First Lady during one of her first campaign rallies last month. 
 
About the decision to have an abortion, the KFF survey points out that this crosses the political spectrum. Roughly similar shares of reproductive-age women from each party reported having had abortions: So, 12% of the Republicans, 14% of Democrats and 15% of the Independents. 
 
About 64% were against the new law that is being pushed across the country that will see women not get abortions after 15 weeks pregnant. Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S. C. , has endorsed such a policy (which would not pre-empt more stringent state laws), and Sen. JD Vance, R-Ohio, Trump’s vice-presidential nominee, expressed support for that bill last year. Vance gave a different account more recently on CBS News’s “Face the Nation”: that he agreed with Trump about leaving policy to the states. 
 
In a larger survey of all adults under 65, KFF reported that 65 percent of people support a federal right to abortion, Frederiksen said. An April poll the Pew Research Center conducted also showed that 63 percent of U. S. adults believe that abortion should be permitted in all or most instances. 
 
KFF also issued two more reports on Wednesday that focused on the attitudes towards abortion policies in the reproductive-age women in Arizona and Florida. Measures that are related to abortion are also present on the ballots of both states in November. 
 
Florida’s measure goes on to repeal the state’s six-week abortion ban that went into operation in May this year. , and this requires a 60% vote. 
 
According to the KFF’s survey, only 28% of reproductive-age women in Florida believed that abortion should be fully illegal or ‘completely’ restricted across all trimesters. Nevertheless, Frederiksen said, “we cannot be sure who intended to vote and whether they will get to vote. ” 
 
Specifically, in Arizona, a swing state, KFF learnt that 70% of reproductive aged women support the legalisation of abortion. Over three-quarters opined that they were justified that an abortion ban could endanger future pregnancies of them or their relatives and friends. 
 
Arizona allows abortions up to the first 15 weeks of pregnancy, although a decision in April of the state’s Supreme Court shows that the law from 1864 prohibiting all abortions except for cases when a woman’s life is in danger is legal. Before the ban could go into effect, however, Governor Katie Hobbs signed a bill to repeal it. 
 
Starting this fall, Arizonans will be voting on a constitutional amendment that, if approved, will enshrine the right to reproductive health care, including outlawed abortion services, up to the point where the fetus is considered viable, roughly between 23 and 24 weeks into the pregnancy. A poll in May from CBS News and YouGov suggested that 65% of Arizonans would vote in its favour. 
 
Frederiksen stated on our interview about her study that women tend to lack adequate knowledge about the abortion situation in their respective states. Studies reveal that on average only 58% of reproductive-age women in Arizona attest to be having basic knowledge on medication abortion. 
 
“Many people simply do not know the abortion policy in their state, do not know whether medication abortion is legal and whether they can buy abortion pills online,” she said. “I think there is a lot of confusion. ”