Most Americans support legal limits on abortion, Knights-Marist poll shows

By Gina Christian, OSV News

(OSV News) -- A majority of Americans support legal limits on abortion, according to results from a Knights of Columbus-Marist poll released Jan. 23.

The annual survey, which was commissioned by the international Catholic fraternal organization and conducted by the Marist Poll at Marist College, found that 67% of Americans support placing legal limits on abortion, while 60% support limiting abortions to at most the first three months of pregnancy.

The poll was conducted in English and Spanish Jan. 7-9 among 1,387 adults, a sample balanced to reflect the demographics of the U.S. Census Bureau's 2022 American Community Survey's five-year estimates for age, gender, income, race and region. Questions were administered by phone with live interviewers, as well as by text and online.

"This year’s survey results show that Americans are once again firm in their belief that abortion should be significantly limited yet laws should include exceptions for rape, incest, or to save the life of the mother,” said Marist Poll director Barbara L. Carvalho in a Jan. 23 press release issued by the Knights.

Supreme Knight Patrick Kelly said the poll "once again shows that a majority of Americans support legal restrictions on abortion."

Carvalho called the poll results a continuation of a "consistent year over year trend" in the wake of the Supreme Court's 2022 Dobbs decision, which overturned prior precedent declaring abortion as a constitutional right and returned the issue to the states.

The Knights-Marist figures appear to align with data from recent polls by Pew Research Center and Gallup indicating a nuanced view of abortion among Americans post-Dobbs.

Data from Pew and Gallup show that broadly speaking, Americans hold that abortion should be legal in at least some cases, with Gallup noting support for abortion varies by trimester.

A May 2023 survey conducted by Gallup found 69% of Americans supported legal abortion for the first trimester, but 55% opposed abortion in the second trimester, and 70% opposed it in the third trimester.

Chemical abortions have emerged as the primary means of abortion in the U.S. In 2023, 63% of abortions in U.S. states without total bans were chemical, rather than surgical, abortions, according to the Guttmacher Institute. According to Gallup, more than 60% of Americans favor legal prescription access to the mifepristone abortion pill.

The Knights-Marist poll also showed that "83% of Americans support pregnancy resource centers, which offer support to mothers both during their pregnancy and after their baby is born," said the Jan. 23 release.

According to the poll, a majority of Americans -- 62% -- also believe health care professionals with religious objections to abortion should not be legally compelled to perform them. In addition, 82% said laws can protect both the mother and her unborn child.

Kelly said "being pro-life means being pro-woman and pro-child," and that "helping vulnerable women and their babies is in the Knights’ DNA."

Knights in the U.S. and Canada have so far raised close to $14 million to support pregnancy resource centers through the organization's ASAP (Aid and Support after Pregnancy) program, said the release.

The fraternal organization has also funded the purchases of more than 1,900 ultrasound machines, "which empower vulnerable mothers to see their unborn babies," the release stated.

Currently, 13 states have some requirement regarding ultrasounds for women seeking abortion, with seven states mandating that a woman must have the imaging before an abortion, according to data from the KFF health policy research firm.

Clinical data on the impact of such ultrasounds so far available suggests that for women who are undecided about seeking an abortion, viewing an ultrasound can result in a small but significant increase in the likelihood of continuing a pregnancy. Researchers note that a number of factors contribute to the decision to proceed with or reject an abortion.

The Catholic Church teaches that "human life must be respected and protected absolutely from the moment of conception" (CCC 2270), and since the first century has affirmed "the moral evil of every procured abortion," a teaching that "has not changed and remains unchangeable" (CCC 2271).