Most Americans Support Abortion For Any Reason

7.9.24

Click to skip ahead: In Stats & Studies, more proof that America supports abortion. Attacks on Democracy in Florida, Nebraska, Arkansas and more. In the States, good news out of Kansas. Crisis Pregnancy Scam looks at incredible reporting from ProPublica. And in 2024 news, the anti-abortion movement’s latest losing strategy.

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A Short Rant

If you missed my piece yesterday on how mainstream outlets were fully fooled by the anti-abortion movement on the GOP’s platform, make sure to read it below.

Don't Fall for the GOP's Platform Lie

It’s been infuriating to see that no one has issued corrections, and that headlines claiming Republicans’ platform ‘softened’ on abortion are still up. Just as bad—that reporters are defending their 100% false interpretation! I may have gotten a little heated on Twitter over all this.

Lest you think I’m forever complaining, check out the few places that got this story right: The New Republic, Slate and The 19th. Whew.

Stats & Studies

There’s a reason that Donald Trump’s campaign wants Americans to believe that he’s ‘moderate’ on abortion (despite all evidence to the contrary). Trump’s team is seeing the same polls that we are, and those polls are unequivocal: Americans support abortion.

Since Roe was overturned, that support has been growing by the day—and I don’t just mean that more Americans want abortion to be legal. More and more, voters understand that pregnancy is too complicated to legislate and don’t want the government involved at all.

Today, a new poll from the Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research adds to the growing body of research showing just how deeply voters care about this issue. Some key takeaways:

• 70% of voters believe that abortion should be legal in “most or all cases,” up from 64% just a year ago.

• 61% of respondents say that people should be able to get an abortion if “the person does not want to be pregnant for any reason.”

• 64% believe Congress should pass a law guaranteeing abortion access across the country.

Coverage of the poll is largely focusing on that middle number, which shows most voters believe people should be able to access abortion for any reason at all. Now, if you’re a regular reader, you know that number is actually much higher than 61%—it’s all about how pollsters ask their questions.

When Americans are asked if the government should be involved in legislating abortion—rather than when or under what circumstances—the answer is clear. An Axios/Ipsos poll this year found that 81% of Americans believe abortion should be a decision between a patient and the doctor made free from government interference. And when an ABC News/Washington Post poll asked the same question in 2023, 78% of Americans said they didn’t want the government involved.

That’s why it was interesting to see the Associated Press report today that their poll showed “sometimes contradictory” views and that voters weren’t always “consistent.” From the AP:

“About half of those who say a woman should be able to get an abortion for any reason also say their state should not allow abortion after 24 weeks of pregnancy and about one-quarter say their state should not allow abortion after 15 weeks of pregnancy.”

These seeming contradictions are exactly what I wrote about a few weeks ago in response to this excellent report from polling group PerryUndem. Their study found that when you dig in, asking questions beyond how many weeks into pregnancy someone supports restrictions, you find out just how pro-choice Americans really are.

So the truth is that these aren’t really ‘conflicting’ answers, but the difference between asking straightforward questions and adopting a Republican framework on abortion. For example, let’s look back at the 61% of Americans who say people should be able to get an abortion if “the person does not want to be pregnant for any reason.” AP/NORC got that answer by asking voters under what circumstances women should be allowed to have abortions. Imagine if instead, they simply asked: Do you think the government should be able to force a person to remain pregnant?

Something tells me that already impressive percentage would be a whole lot higher.

Attacks on Democracy

When I read this next piece of news, I literally yelled out loud, “Are you kidding me?!” Because just when you think the anti-abortion attacks on democracy couldn’t get any worse…Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis steps in.

Last week, I wrote a comprehensive run-down of the latest Republican attack on Amendment 4, the pro-choice ballot measure initiative in Florida. The short version is that the law requires citizen-led amendments include a financial impact statement—an estimate to tell voters how much restoring abortion rights might cost the state, created by what’s meant to be an ‘independent’ panel.

Republicans have already stacked the panel with anti-abortion nuts who claim that making abortion legal again would cost the state millions of dollars because of litigation and less people being born. But somehow it gets even worse.

The Tallahassee Democrat reports that Florida Republicans are paying anti-abortion extremists—who don’t even live in the state!—to advise the panel. One of those extremists is someone I’ve written about often: Michael New.

If New’s name sounds familiar, it’s because he’s the guy who argued that Texas’ rising infant mortality rate was actually a good thing because it meant that the law was “preventing unborn children from being aborted due to their medical condition.” (He was referring to women being forced to carry doomed pregnancies to term.) New, who fancies himself a researcher, has also claimed that contraception causes “more abortions,” is affiliated with the extremist Charlotte Lozier Institute, and has defended inaccurate and retracted anti-abortion studies.

For all of that ‘expertise’, New is getting paid $300 an hour to speak at Florida’s Financial Impact Estimating Conference (FIEC) meetings. I won’t even get into the other so-called experts from places like the Heritage Foundation.

I might have to write a separate column about this, because it is totally wild to see the same three anti-abortion ‘experts’ being flown around to defend dangerous and unpopular abortion bans. (It’s essentially New, Ingrid Skop, and Christina Francis.) Republicans don’t have science, medicine or any credible groups on their side—so they all have to import these absolute fucking hacks. I’m so over it.

Meanwhile, in Nebraska, hundreds of people (and counting) have signed affidavits saying that they were tricked into supporting an anti-abortion petition. The Nebraska Examiner reports that the over 300 affidavits are the most ever filed to the Secretary of State’s Office against a ballot initiative.

You can read more about conservatives fake ‘pro-choice’ ballot measure here, here, and here. The short version, though, is that because anti-abortion groups and lawmakers know that voters want abortion to be legal, they’ve launched their own ballot measure—which they’re calling ‘pro-choice’—in order to steal votes from the legitimate amendment.

Their measure, which is bankrolled by a small group of Republican multimillionaires, would enshrine the state’s 12-week abortion ban in the state constitution—making it virtually repeal-proof. And the Examiner reports that the way the measure is written would allow conservative lawmakers to pass even stricter bans. 

Not only did anti-abortion petitioners pose as abortion rights activists in order to gather signatures, it also appears they broke the law. Nebraska Sen. Megan Hunt said one person had been told, for example, that they could sign for their entire family. Just unbelievable.

Anti-abortion attacks on democracy aren’t limited to Nebraska. I’ve told you about harassment against abortion rights petitioners in Montana, voters in South Dakota being pressured to remove their names from a pro-choice petition, and—most recently—anti-abortion activists in Arkansas doxxing pro-choice signature-gatherers. Well, it looks like the Arkansas nonsense didn’t stop there.

Before abortion rights advocates had collected all the signatures they needed, they were obviously running around trying to make sure that they had enough before the deadline. So you can imagine how damaging it was when someone sent out a fake email trying to trick petitioners into thinking their work was done.

Someone sent an email to volunteers, telling them that they had collected “more than enough” signatures and that they could stop petitioning and take off for the holiday weekend. Rebecca Bobrow of Arkansans for Limited Government said they believed the email came from the opposing campaign, calling it “an ugly tactic aimed at hampering our people-powered movement.”

If you need a political palate cleanser, consider reading this States Newsroom interview with OB-GYN Dr. Dina Epstein, one of the volunteers in Arkansas, about what the amendment could mean for healthcare providers.

Finally, two quick hits for you: South Dakota Searchlight reports that a judge has declined to block a lawsuit against the abortion rights ballot measure campaign in South Dakota. And if you want to know more about the ballot measure effort in Missouri, PBS Newshour has a short but sweet segment.

In the States

Let’s talk about some good news, this time out of Kansas. The state Supreme Court has struck down two abortion restrictions: one that banned an abortion procedure used during the second trimester, and another that was a set of TRAP-type laws that made it more difficult for doctors to provide care.

What makes these decisions so important—outside of the fact that they get rid of onerous and unnecessary restrictions—is that the Kansas Supreme Court reaffirmed that the state constitution protects the right to abortion. And as the Associated Press points out, “the pair of 5-1 decisions suggests that other restrictions—even ones decades on the books—might not withstand legal challenges.”

There are other challenges against Kansas abortion restrictions in lower courts right now—including one against the reporting law that just went into effect, mandating that doctors ask patients invasive questions and report their answers to the state.

And remember: all of these laws have an impact beyond folks who live in Kansas. That’s because the state has become an abortion safe haven of sorts, with most abortion patients coming from out-of-state. Nancy Northup, president of the Center for Reproductive Rights, called the rulings “an immense victory for the health, safety, and dignity of people in Kansas and the entire Midwestern region, where millions have been cut off from abortion access.”

You can hear more about what the rulings mean for Kansas in this segment from public radio station KCUR.

Quick hits:

• A new survey in Massachusetts finds that most people in the state don’t know about different kinds of abortion access like telemedicine;

• The Nation on the study showing that Texas’ abortion ban led to a significant increase in infant deaths;

• And how Oklahoma’s abortion ban is driving patients out-of-state.

Crisis Pregnancy Scam

If you read anything today, let it be this incredible investigative piece from ProPublica, published in collaboration with CBS News. Reporters looked at the $140 million dollars going to anti-abortion crisis pregnancy centers in Texas, finding that “the system that funnels a growing pot of state money to anti-abortion nonprofits has few safeguards and is riddled with waste.”

ProPublica not only reports that one center used taxpayer dollars for vacations and a motorcycle, but that state officials have pretty much zero idea how that money is being spent because CPC funding gets no oversight. Another center reported spending $2 million on ‘marketing’—which was more than ten times the amount they spent on material goods for women and babies, like diapers.

The piece also lays out how these religiously-affiliated centers will be reimbursed by the state for distributing items they got for free.

“Take Viola’s House, a pregnancy center and maternity home in Dallas. Records show that it pays a nearby diaper bank an administrative fee of $1,590 for about 120,000 diapers annually — just over a penny apiece. Viola’s House can then bill the state $14 for distributing a pack of diapers that cost the center just over a quarter. But before they can get those diapers, parents must take a class. The center can also bill the state $30 for each hour of class a client attends.”

If you’re wondering why the state doesn’t just fund places like diaper banks, instead of funneling taxpayer dollars through this unchecked system—you’re not the only one! Democratic state Rep. Donna Howard proposed moving just 2% of the state’s massive CPC budget to diaper banks directly. Her proposal failed.

This funding is about giving unregulated money to religious centers—groups that lie to women, and disclose their private health data willy nilly. If you haven’t read Abortion, Every Day’s investigation into Heartbeat International, consider this your sign to do that today:

EXCLUSIVE: Health Data Breach at America’s Largest Crisis Pregnancy Org

2024

President Joe Biden’s reelection campaign has a new ad out attacking Donald Trump on abortion rights. The spot features Trump saying that Roe being overturned has “been a great thing.” It’s a good ad, but I continue to think that the best way to use that Trump quote is to juxtapose it with all of the post-Roe horror stories we’ve seen: Trump saying the end of Roe is a “great thing” with headline after headline about women going septic, dying, and being forced to carry doomed pregnancies to term.

Democrats have already been really good about featuring women’s personal stories, there’s no reason to stop now.

Speaking of post-Roe personal stories: I’ve written quite a bit about how anti-abortion activists are trying to replicate Democrats’ success with this strategy by putting out women’s stories of their own. I predicted this would be a losing tactic, though, because there’s nothing compelling about a woman who is happy about being forced into pregnancy. If anything, it’s depressing.

Today, POLITICO reports on that growing anti-abortion tactic, which activists and groups are throwing some serious effort and money behind. Kristi Hamrick, chief policy strategist at Students for Life, said, “It is very effective. So why not join them?” And Ralph Reed, founder of Faith & Freedom Coalition, says, “Storytelling matters and narratives matter.”

But here’s the part I loved the most:

“But a Republican strategist who consults with anti-abortion groups, granted anonymity to talk candidly about electoral strategy, said internal campaign research shows that those messages may not be the most compelling for voters.”

Ya don’t say!