(LifeSiteNews) – Most registered voters support a ban on abortions at 15 weeks, the same limit under consideration in the Dobbs v. Jackson case before the Supreme Court, according to a new Fox News poll.
“When asked how they would feel if such a law were passed in their state, just over half of voters favor it (54 percent) while 41 percent are opposed,” Fox News reported on Tuesday.
The same poll, conducted before the leaked Roe reversal draft decision came out, also found that half of registered voters support a six-week abortion ban.
“Voters were also asked how they felt about a similar ban (with medical exceptions) on abortion after only six weeks, which is the new standard in Texas,” Fox News reported. “Voters split on this policy: 50% favor vs. 46% oppose.”
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The poll is potentially more valuable than surveys specifically about Roe v. Wade, as many people do not know what a reversal of the 1973 court decision, which legalized abortion through all nine months of pregnancy, would mean. The poll asks specifically about different pro-life laws, not a decision from almost five decades ago.
“[A] significant number of Americans are unfamiliar with the Roe v. Wade decision. A Pew Research Center poll taken in 2013 found that only 62 percent of respondents were aware that Roe v. Wade dealt with abortion,” Catholic University of America Professor Michael New explained in 2018. “Seventeen percent thought Roe v. Wade dealt with some other public-policy issue and 20 percent were unfamiliar with the decision.”
“Furthermore, even many who realize Roe v. Wade dealt with abortion fail to understand the full implications of the decision,” New wrote. “Many wrongly think that overturning Roe v. Wade would result in national ban on abortion, instead a reversal of Roe would return the issue to the states.”
He also explained that “many polling questions … fail to inform respondents that Roe v. Wade effectively legalized abortion on demand for all nine months of pregnancy and makes it difficult to place limits on late-term abortions.”
A 2019 poll of millennials conducted by Students for Life of America (SFLA) found that 65 percent of that age group wants to be able to vote on abortion policy and only 16 percent said the courts should limit the public’s say on the issue.
The results mirror a Marist-Knights of Columbus poll on abortion.
“Two-thirds of Americans want Roe revisited to allow for state regulation of abortion or to ban it altogether,” Carl Anderson said in 2019. “The majority of the American people deserve to have their opinions heard,” the Knights of Columbus CEO stated.