Alabama Bill at Odds With Public Consensus on Abortion
It's not difficult to view abortion as a contentious issue. With equal percentages of Americans -- 48% each -- identifying themselves as "pro-choice" and "pro-life" in Gallup's May 2018 update on abortion, the country looks to be completely polarized on the matter.
The two sides also diverge when it comes to the legality of first-trimester abortions. Nine in 10 pro-choice Americans say abortion should generally be legal in the first three months of pregnancy, while six in 10 pro-life Americans believe it should be illegal.
At the same time, there are two important areas of consensus that have typically been respected in U.S. abortion laws. One involves protecting abortion rights when pregnancy endangers a woman's life. The other is keeping abortion legal when pregnancy is caused by rape or incest.
According to Gallup's 2018 abortion survey, not only do most Americans as a whole favor these protections, but so do majorities of pro-life Americans -- 71% for the endangered woman's life exception and 57% for cases of rape or incest. Support for these allowances is nearly universal among pro-choice Americans.
The general agreement seen on woman's life and rape/incest protections contrasts with a much thornier picture relative to the laws on abortion in cases when the child would be physically or mentally disabled or at the woman's discretion. These spark much stronger differences between pro-choice and pro-life Americans, and are usually where conflict erupts in the debate.
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https://news.gallup.com/opinion/gallup/257627/alabama-bill-odds-public-consensus-abortion.aspx