In the wake of the overturning of Roe v. Wade in 2022, abortion rights activists gathered outside the Supreme Court in Washington, D.C. to rally for the protection of abortion rights. Despite state bans and restrictions on the procedure, a majority of women still support legal access to it. This was revealed by a survey conducted by KFF, a nonprofit health policy research group, which included 1,316 adults from all 50 states and Washington, D.C., including the 14 states that have banned abortion and the 11 states with gestational limits. The results showed that two-thirds of women living in these states opposed a nationwide ban on mifepristone, an abortion pill that is widely used in later-term abortions.
The survey also found that even in conservative states where voters were largely supportive of reproductive freedom through referendums, women still believed that abortion should be legal all or most of the time. This poses a challenge for Republicans seeking to restrict abortion through ballot initiatives in upcoming elections. In Florida, voters will decide in November whether abortion should be protected as a constitutional right, potentially overriding existing bans. The Florida Supreme Court recently upheld a 15-week ban on abortion with a 6-week ban supported by the state legislature.
Despite Trump’s past support for limiting access to mifepristone if he were reelected as president, his recent silence on potential limits on its use raises questions about his position on this issue now that he is no longer in office. The Supreme Court is expected to rule on this matter in the summer.
