An organization representing thousands of pro-life obstetricians and gynecologists released polling showing that most U.S. voters oppose Roe v. Wade and other radical abortion measures when properly informed.
The American Association of Pro-Life Obstetricians and Gynecologists (AAPLOG) held a virtual conference call on Wednesday to share new polling data, especially in light of the Supreme Court’s recent decision to overturn Roe. The organization says the decision “has led to an onslaught of troubling misinformation and alarmism stoked by the pro-abortion left, including by some medical professionals.” AAPLOG physicians are already allegedly seeing patients who are “confused and scared” because of post-Roe abortion misinformation.
Roe’s Overturning *DOES NOT* Outlaw Abortion
Out of 1,600 registered voters polled nationally between June 3-6, 2022, 53 percent said they support the Supreme Court’s 1973 Roe v. Wade decision “which recognized a Constitutional right to abortion.” However, when voters were asked if they would support or oppose Roe v. Wade, knowing that it allowed abortion up to birth, including late-term abortions when the unborn may feel pain, 56 percent of voters said they oppose Roe.
AAPLOG CEO-elect and board-certified OB/GYN Dr. Christina Francis said voters’ 180-degree flip about Roe shows the prevalence of misconceptions about the case:
I think a lot of people think that overturning Roe means all of a sudden abortion is illegal in all 50 states, and it was only Roe that gave women the ‘right to abortion.’ But I think what our polling data showed is that when you educate people about what Roe accomplished, the vast majority of Americans are actually supportive of pretty significant abortion restrictions, even if they think some abortions should be legal. So I think that’s one of the biggest things to educate people on is that [Roe’s overturning] just returns the power to the states. It actually gives people a voice in what they want to happen in their state.
Other polling reflects Francis’s assessment: the University of Massachusetts Amherst released a poll in May that found that one quarter of Americans falsely believe overturning Roe would make abortion illegal nationwide.
Voters Want More Transparency About Abortion
When asked: “Do you agree or disagree that we need transparent data collection [to]truly assess the risks abortion poses to women and their health?” 79 percent of voters agreed, including 84 percent of GOP voters, 77 percent of independents, and 78 percent of Democrats. Francis said:
We know in the U.S., our data collection on this is really appalling. Not even every state has to report their abortions, much less their complications, and yet patients are being told that these are safe procedures, that medication abortions are safe and effective. They’re being told that abortion is safer than childbirth. But this is all based on really inadequate data, and so patients are being given false information and we want help correct that.
Citing various studies, AAPLOG issued a committee opinion about maternal mortality in 2019, which states that published abortion mortality rates are “inaccurate because the total number of legal abortions performed in the U.S. is not known”:
Estimated numbers of abortions are voluntarily reported to the CDC by state health departments. California, the state with the largest volume, does not report any data. The Guttmacher Institute also tracks these numbers, and it consistently reports higher numbers than the CDC. For example, the CDC reported 652,639 abortions in 2014 while the Guttmacher Institute reported 926,000.
Twenty-seven states require abortion providers to report complications but there are no enforcement penalties for noncompliance. Only 12 states require coroners, emergency rooms and other health care providers to report abortion-related complications or deaths for investigation.
Overwhelmingly, voters agree (75 percent) that “women should be empowered with information and deserve fully informed consent” and they have the right to know “that abortion is never medically necessary and can have serious physical and mental health consequences that could last a lifetime.” Eighty-four percent of those polled also said they agree that abortion providers “should be held to the same standards of care as other health professionals.”
Voters Oppose Late-Term Abortions, Support ‘Common Sense’ Restrictions
Seventy-four percent of Republicans, 62 percent of independents, and 36 percent of Democrats oppose late-term abortions, and over 60 percent of overall voters believe an unborn baby at various stages of development is “a human life.”
Notably, 55 percent of voters believe abortions should be prohibited between zero and six weeks, and thirteen percent said between 37-40 weeks. No other period in pregnancy garnered over six percent.
Seventy-three percent of voters, including over 70 percent of every voter demographic, agree with “common sense provisions” like ensuring in-person consultations and parental consent for minors.
Voter opposition to radical abortion measures starkly contrasts Democrats’ push to legalize abortion through all nine months of pregnancy. In response to the Supreme Court’s ruling, Democrats have threatened to revive the Women’s Health Protection Act, which would prohibit local, state, and federal officials from preventing abortions at any stage of pregnancy. Sen. Joe Manchin (D-WV) notably described the legislation as an “expansion” of abortion rather than the codification of Roe v. Wade.
The Proliferation of Unsupervised Medication Abortion
In 2021, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) eased restrictions on at-home drug-induced abortions by allowing women and girls to end their pregnancies via mail-order pills without having to see an abortion provider in person. Before that, the FDA had already eased restrictions on the requirement of in-person assessment for drug-induced abortion due to the coronavirus pandemic. The abortion industry and its allies quickly readied tele-abortion services to be utilized on a permanent basis.
Former abortionist Dr. Anthony Levatino has explained in his videos about various abortion procedures how drug-induced abortions work. Breitbart News reported:
The first drug, mifepristone, blocks the action of progesterone, which the mother’s body produces to nourish the pregnancy. When progesterone is blocked, the lining of the mother’s uterus deteriorates, and blood and nourishment are cut off to the developing baby, who then dies inside the mother’s womb. The drug misoprostol (also called Cytotec) then causes contractions and bleeding to expel the baby from the mother’s uterus.
When voters were asked if they support the unsupervised use of chemical abortion pills, 54 percent said they oppose and 30 percent support.
When asked if they would be more or less likely to support chemical abortions if they learned that “abortion related emergency room visits due to chemical abortions were up 500 percent from 2002 to 2015, according to analysis of Medicaid claims data?” 24 percent said more likely and 49 percent said less likely.
When asked if they would be more or less likely to support chemical abortions if they learned that “women are more likely to visit the emergency room following a chemical abortion than they are after a surgical abortion?” 51 percent said less likely and 22 percent said more likely.
Francis said foregoing in-person screenings before obtaining abortion polls could be dangerous for women and girls for several reasons:
They need to be seen in person so that we can know exactly how far along they are in pregnancy. We need to know whether or not they have an ectopic pregnancy, which occurs in one in 50 pregnancies and is life-threatening. We also need to see them so that we can screen them for intimate partner violence or coercion into their abortion. This simply can’t happen through a website.
The poll was conducted with 1,600 registered voters nationally between June 3-6, 2022. The margin of error is ±2.45 percent at the 95 percent confidence level.