Poll: Majority say U.S. Supreme Court should uphold Roe v. Wade

WASHINGTON — A majority of Americans say the Supreme Court should uphold Roe v. Wade, the landmark ruling that established a constitutional right to abortion, a Washington Post-ABC News poll conducted last week finds.

With the Supreme Court poised to overturn the right to abortion, the survey finds that 54 percent of Americans think the 1973 Roe decision should be upheld while 28 percent believe it should be overturned — a roughly 2-1 margin.

The Supreme Court is considering a Mississippi law that would ban abortion after 15 weeks. Such a restriction seemed forbidden by Roe and a subsequent decision that said states could not place undue burden on the right to abortion before fetal viability, usually seen as

22 to 24 weeks. The Supreme Court is preparing to overturn Roe in this case, according to a leaked draft of the opinion published Monday by Politico.

The Washington Post-ABC poll finds that 57 percent of Americans oppose their state making abortions legal only in the first 15 weeks of pregnancy, while a similar majority, 58 percent, opposes limiting abortion to the first six weeks of pregnancy.

Arizona, Florida, Idaho, Kentucky, Texas and Wyoming have passed new abortion restrictions recently. The Washington Post-ABC poll finds 4 in 10 residents in these states are aware that recent abortion restrictions were passed in their state, but a majority said they were unaware of new restrictions.

Should the Supreme Court strike down Roe, some states could pass laws restricting or protecting access to abortion. The poll shows that one-third of Americans, 33 percent, say access to abortion in their state should be made easier, while slightly more, 36 percent, say abortion access should be left as is for now. A quarter, 25 percent, say it should be harder to access abortion.

More broadly, the poll finds 58 percent of Americans say abortion should be legal in “most cases” or “all cases,” while 37 percent say it should be illegal in “most cases” or “all cases.”

Public opinion on abortion’s legality has not shifted significantly since 2019, when 60 percent of Americans said it should be legal in all or most cases. Support today is slightly above the average of 55 percent saying it should be legal in all or most cases over 33 national Washington Post-ABC polls since 1995.