A4 EZ RE THE WASHINGTON POST.SATURDAY, MAY 7 , 2022
BY CASEY PARKSRelatively few Americans hold
an absolutist view on the legality
of abortion, a Pew Center report
released Friday shows. The
r eport, one of the most compre-
hensive surveys on abortion atti-
tudes in years, found that 71
percent of Americans believe
abortion should be legal in some
circumstances and illegal in
o thers. Nineteen percent, or
about 1 in 5 Americans, think
abortion should be legal in all
cases, and 8 percent say it should
be illegal without any excep-
tions.
The Center has surveyed the
public on abortion for decades,
and the latest survey shows that
support for legal abortion has
remained steady since the Center
began surveying people in 1995.
Sixty-one percent of Americans
believe abortion should be legal
in all or most cases. Still, the
Center’s researchers found that
most people’s attitudes are
n uanced and contingent upon a
variety of circumstances, such as
how far along a person is in their
pregnancy and whether the
p regnancy endangers a pregnant
person’s life.
“People don’t want to give a
simple yes or no answer,” senior
researcher Besheer Mohamed
said. “Their views are complicat-
ed. They’re nuanced. And so
g iving folks a chance to really
express that was a big part of our
motivation for this.”
The report is based on a survey
of 10,441 people that the Center
conducted in early March — after
the Supreme Court heard oral
arguments in a Mississippi case
that could overturn Roe v. Wade
but before a leaked draft showed
that a majority of the justices
want to overturn the 1973 deci-
sion that legalized abortion na-
tionwide.
The new survey did not ask
specifically about Roe, but previ-
ous Center studies have found
that most Americans say the
S upreme Court should not com-
pletely overturn that decision.
The Washington Post, in a sepa-
rate poll conducted with ABC
News last month, found that 54
percent of Americans think the
1973 decision should be upheld
while 28 percent believe it
should be overturned — about 2
to 1.
Hannah Hartig, a research
a ssociate who worked with
M ohamed on the report, said
that if the Court overturns Roe,
this new analysis could be key as
states look to craft new abortion
legislation.
“What this does is provide a
really great baseline,” Hartig
said. “If abortion does move from
the judicial arena to the legisla-
tive arena, and states are making
these decisions, it provides a
baseline for how Americans
would feel about a six-week
a bortion ban or no exceptions forcases of rape or the health of a
woman.”
While the researchers did find
partisan gaps in opinions about
the legality of abortion, they also
found that people from both
parties agree on one issue: Better
financial and employment sup-
port for pregnant women would
curb the number of abortions.
Nearly two-thirds of Americans
said they believe better supports
would reduce the number of
abortions, and nearly 6 in 10 said
expanding support for parents
through better child care or
f amily leave policies would
r educe the number of abortions.
Roughly 60 percent also said
e xpanding sex education would
r educe the number of abortions.
The researchers found that each
of those had more broad support
than using laws to reduce the
number of abortions.
Mohamed and Hartig found
that even the most resolved
r espondents on both sides
e xpressed support for some ex-
ceptions and restrictions. Al-
though a quarter of Americans
said abortion should be legal in
all cases, a fourth of those went
on to say that there should be
some exceptions. Similarly, 1 in
10 said abortion should be illegal
in all cases, but in later ques-
tions, 20 percent of those said
there may be some instances
when abortion should be legal.
Nearly half of the respondents
who said the procedure shouldbe illegal in all or most cases also
said it should be legal if the
pregnancy threatens the health
or life of the mother, and more
than a third said abortion should
be legal in cases of rape. Four in
10 abortion opponents say the
statement “the decision about
whether to have an abortion
should belong solely to the preg-
nant woman” describes their
own view at least “somewhat”
well.
Among those who support
l egal abortion, the researchers
found a large number who also
favor some restrictions. Fifty-six
percent of people who support
abortion said doctors should be
required to notify a parent or
guardian before performing an
abortion on a minor. More than
half of abortion rights support-
ers believe that when an abor-
tion occurs matters, and, in some
c ases, the procedure should be
illegal.
Overall, support for legal abor-
tion drops the further along a
person is in their pregnancy.
A lthough Roe made abortions
l egal nationwide up to 24 weeks
— roughly the time when a
healthy fetus could survive out-
side the womb — far fewer
Americans support abortions
when a pregnant person is that
far along. While 44 percent of all
U.S. adults say abortion should
be legal at six weeks, 22 percent
believe it should be legal at 24
weeks.Still, 44 percent of those who
believe abortion should be illegal
at 24 weeks said if a woman’s life
is in danger or if the baby will be
born with disabilities, the
p rocedure should be legal, even
after the point of viability.
The researchers also found
that a third of Americans hold
what activists might consider
conflicting views: Those respon-
dents believe that a pregnant
woman should be the only per-
son to decide whether an abor-
tion is right for her, and they also
believe that human life begins at
conception, and thus a fetus is a
person with rights. Additionally,
while nearly half of Americans
see abortion as morally wrong in
most or all cases, 22 percent said
they believe abortion should be
illegal in every situation where
they believe it is immoral. Nearly
half said abortion may be moral-
ly wrong in some circumstances
but should nevertheless be legal.
“There’s one way of looking at
these and saying, ‘Well, these two
are in conflict,’ ” Mohamed said.
“Like, on the one hand, how
could you think human life be-
gins at conception and then on
the other hand, say, ‘but the
woman should be able to
choose’? But we definitely see
that among about a third of the
public overall, and among up-
wards of half of Black Protes-
tants. They say that both of these
positions match their views, at
least somewhat so. So we see areal sense of a sort of a recogni-
tion of two competing concerns.”
Religious people also see the
issue in what the researchers
called “shades of gray.” Though
Mohamed and Harting found a
tight connection between the
importance of religion in a per-
son’s life and their views on
abortion, they also found that a
majority of people with religious
views b elieve abortion should be
legal in some circumstances and
illegal in others. For instance,
though the majority of White
evangelicals believe abortion
should be illegal all or most of
the time, half also said abortion
should be legal if a pregnancy
threatens the life or health of the
woman.
Similarly, more than
t hree-fourths of nonevangelical
White protestants believe abor-
tion should be legal in some
situations and illegal in others.
Nearly 7 in 10 Black Protestants
agree, as do 76 percent of Catho-
lics.
“When people are thinking
about their own views, they
know that they’re nuanced and
complicated and it depends on
different things,” Mohamed said.
But, he added, the public
d iscussion around abortion is
“not always framed that way.”
“I sincerely hope that the
r eport and the analysis we’ve
done can help move the public
conversation in a more nuanced
way,” Mohamed said.Pew Center report shows most Americans have nuanced views on abortion
BY SEUNG MIN KIM
AND LEIGH ANN CALDWELLVice President Harris declared
this week that “it has never been
more clear which party wants to
expand our rights and which par-
ty wants to restrict them.” House
Democrats’ campaign committee
said that “access to abortion is on
the line this November.”
And Democrats have now teed
up a Senate vote next week to
codify Roe v. Wade — a vote they
expect to lose, but one that will
highlight partisan divisions by
falling almost entirely along party
lines.
In the aftermath of the leaked
draft of a Supreme Court opinion
that would overturn Roe, Demo-
crats are working hard to under-
line for voters which party is dis-
mantling abortion protections
and which one is defending them,
hoping Republicans pay a price at
the polls.
“All of America will be watch-
ing,” Senate Majority Leader
Charles E. Schumer (D-N.Y.) said
in announcing the Senate vote.
“Republicans will not be able to
hide from the American people,
and cannot hide from their role in
bringing Roe to an end.”
But the Democrats’ message
also in a sense reflects how power-
less they have been in Washing-
ton, even when they control the
levers of power. They have failed
to codify Roe, failed to prevent a
conservative judiciary and failed
to change the filibuster to enact
their agenda.
And that’s in the opinion of
some Democrats.
“The United States Senate is
not responding to what Ameri-
cans want right now,” Sen. Tina
Smith (D-Minn.) said. “And that
should piss them off.”
It’s not just the expected de-
mise of Roe, the landmark 1973
Supreme Court ruling that guar-
anteed abortion rights. A sweep-
ing Democratic package that in-
corporated far-reaching climate
rules steadily shrank until Demo-
cratic Sen. Joe Manchin III
(W.Va.) effectively killed it in De-
cember. Efforts to expand voting
access were blocked not just by
Republicans, but by two moder-
ate Democratic senators who de-
clined to revise Senate rules that
require 60 votes for most legisla-
tion to advance.
A bipartisan push to rein in
policing practices collapsed. The
Democratic-controlled Senate
never even voted on restricting
gun measures in the aftermath of
several mass shootings.
President Biden has repeatedly
said the fault lies with the GOP,
since 48 out of 50 Senate Demo-
crats generally support his plans
while Republicans block them
with near unanimity. But some
rank-and-file activists blame
Manchin and Sen. Kyrsten Sine-
ma (D-Ariz.) for consistently un-
dermining the Democrats’ agen-
da, and in some case Schumer for
not finding a way to overcome
their resistance.
Cathy Sigmon, 72, a retired and
late-in-life-turned activist with
the Arizona chapter of Indivisi-
ble, a liberal activist group, says
Democrats sometimes do not ap-
pear to be fighting that hard. “The
perception is that they just
stopped trying, even if that is not
the case,” Sigmon said. “It is ex-
tremely frustrating for me, and I
feel voters would reward Demo-
crats if they see them fighting
hard — I mean, really hard.”
On abortion, California Gov.
Gavin Newsom (D) captured
some of that anger in his response
to the pending Supreme Court
decision on abortion this week
when he asked in apparent dis-
gust, “Where the hell’s my party?”
He added, “Where’s the Demo-
cratic Party? Why aren’t we stand-
ing up more firmly, more resolute-
ly? Why aren’t we calling this
out?” Republicans are winning,
Newsom said: “This is a coordi-
nated, concerted effort. And yes,
they’re winning. They are. They
have been. Let’s acknowledge
that. We need to stand up. Where’s
the counteroffensive?”
When the Senate takes up the
legislation codifying Roe next
week, few expect an outcome
much different from a similar
vote in February, when Demo-
crats could not muster a simple
majority due to opposition from
Manchin, who does not supportabortion rights. Sens. Susan Col-
lins (Maine) and Lisa Murkowski
(Alaska), two Republican sena-
tors who back abortion rights,
also voted against the Democrats’
bill.
Collins said this week that she
again would oppose the measure
because it does not sufficiently
protect health providers that ob-
ject to abortion, such as Catholic
hospitals. Democrats dispute that
premise, but even if both Republi-
can women were on board, it
would still fall far short of the
60-vote threshold.
Especially frustrating to liber-
als is a statement from Sinema,
who criticized the draft Supreme
Court opinion while reiterating
she would not support revising
the filibuster to legislate abortion
rights. “Protections in the Senate
safeguarding against the erosion
of women’s access to health care
have been used half-a-dozen
times in the past ten years, and
are more important now than
ever,” she said.“We could protect Roe tomor-
row, but Sinema refuses to act on
the filibuster. Until that changes
she can take a seat talking about
‘women’s access to health care,’”
Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez
(D-N.Y.) tweeted. “Hold everyone
contributing to this disaster ac-
countable, GOP & Dem obstruc-
tionists included. She should be
primaried.”
Manchin’s West Virginia has
become deeply Republican, while
Sinema represents the swing
state of Arizona. Both have said
they are voting their conscience
and representing their constitu-
ents, and Manchin has said that if
liberals are disappointed, the so-
lution is to elect more liberals.
It’s far from the first time liber-
als’ anger has been kindled
against the two Democratic cen-
trists. Strategists in both parties
expect the Democrats to lose one
or both chambers of Congress in
November’s election, and the win-
dow for the party to enact its
agenda may be rapidly closing.
“A lot of the frustration is laid at
Manchin and Sinema, and for
good reason,” said Shaunna
Thomas, co-founder of the liberal
group UltraViolet, which focuses
on issues of gender inclusivity.
Some Democrats worry that if
party members spend too much
time sniping at each other, they
will let Republicans off the hook.
Democratic organizers in key bat-
tleground states are trying to look
past the intraparty angst and
avoid the circular firing squad
that dominated much of the head-
lines last year as Democrats strug-
gled to unite behind high-profile
legislation.
Vicki Miller, the group leader ofIndivisible Philadelphia, said her
organizers face two types of vot-
ers. One closely follows the daily
political news, particularly the
ups and downs of Biden’s domes-
tic agenda, and “they know what
we don’t have that we were hop-
ing we would have.”
She added, “They know all
about Joe Manchin. They know all
about Kyrsten Sinema. They
know the limits of Democrats in
the Senate.”
But they are a small minority of
voters, she said, and about 95
percent of the people that Miller’s
group canvasses are less tuned in
to political news and are not
aware of what has gotten done in
Washington.
“They don’t even remember
the $1,400 checks,” said Miller,
referring to the stimulus pay-
ments in the Biden’s sweeping
coronavirus relief package last
year. “That’s our mission, to re-
mind them and to inform them.
The two massive pieces of legisla-
tion that were passed provide a
ton of benefits, and people are not
seeing that.”
The White House, too, has been
working to better promote the
accomplishments of the Biden
presidency, including the relief
package and the bipartisan infra-
structure law. Biden and Harris
will appear together at an event
next week to promote the broad-
band provisions in the infrastruc-
ture package.
White House press secretary
Jen Psaki said Friday that Biden is
“incredibly proud” of the achieve-
ments of his first 15 months, citing
the roughly 80 bipartisan bills
that she said he has signed into
law.“He was in the Senate for 36
years. He knows and understands
it sometimes take more time than
you would like to get... your
agenda forward,” Psaki said. “He
also understands that with such a
slim majority in the Senate, it
requires either having every sin-
gle Democrat prepared to move
forward on, say, the reconciliation
package — which we’re still work-
ing to move forward — or requires
working in a bipartisan way.”
Democrats on the ground say
they are working overtime to out-
line what is at stake this Novem-
ber for voters, despite lack of
progress on several key issues in
Washington.
“Yes, the disappointment is
real,” said Nsé Ufot, chief execu-
tive of the New Georgia Project, a
liberal group. “But we are looking
for a fight. We are always connect-
ing the act of voting to the change
that people tell us they want to see
for themselves, for their families
and their communities.”
That leaves Democratic leaders
urgently trying to persuade their
voters that it is Republicans, not
Democrats, who need to be held
accountable. Sen. Ben Ray Luján
(D-N.M.) said it is a mispercep-
tion that Democrats have a func-
tional majority in the Senate
when they control only 50 votes
and need Harris to break ties.
“It takes 10 Republicans to be
able to work together to get some-
thing done, but there’s not a one
there, and they are surely never
10,” Luján said. “I don’t think the
attention should be taken off of
those that are causing obstruc-
tion, especially those Republican
members that were once on board
with some of these policies.”Frustrated by failures, Democrats seek to redirect anger over Roe at GOP
JABIN BOTSFORD/THE WASHINGTON POST
Demonstrators on Capitol Hill after the leak of a S upreme Court draft opinion that could overturn the landmark Roe v. Wade ruling guaranteeing the right to an abortion.“Where’s the Democratic Party? Why aren’t westanding up more firmly, more resolutely? Whyaren’t we calling this out? This is a coordinated,concerted effort. And yes, they’re winning. Theyare. They have been. Let’s acknowledge that. Weneed to stand up. Where’s the counteroffensive?”
California Gov. Gavin Newsom (D), responding to t he leaked Supreme Court
draft opinion that could d ismantle abortion protections