Widening Gender Gap in Abortion Views Revealed by Poll
But Americans became slightly more prolife
A new Gallup poll highlights a widening gender gap in abortion views, revealing that women are far more likely than men to support abortion being broadly legal and to consider it morally acceptable.
Sixty-one percent of women and 41 percent of men describe themselves a pro-choice. The gap has expanded since 2022, because pro-choice identity has dipped among men (from 48 percent to 41 percent) while it has held steady among women. Currently, 32 percent of women and 54 percent of men identify as pro-life.
Similarly, there is now a record-high 17-point gap between women (57 percent) and men (40 percent) in their belief that killing an unborn child is morally acceptable and a record-high 15-point gap in women’s (56 percent) and men’s (41 percent) support for abortion in all or most circumstances. These divergences are also the widest since 2022.
Descriptions vary over time
Americans’ description of their abortion views as either pro-choice or pro-life has varied over the three decades that Gallup has tracked it. The pro-choice position prevailed in the mid-1990s before sentiment switched to a slim lead for pro-choice in most years from 1997 through 2008, after which the pro-choice and pro-life positions were typically more closely matched through 2021. In 2022, the pro-choice position jumped into a 16-point lead and has since remained ahead of the pro-life group, although by a slimmer eight-point margin this year (51 percent vs. 43 percent, respectively).
Thirty percent of Americans currently think abortion should be legal under any circumstances, 19 percent support it being legal under most circumstances, 35 percent say it should be legal in only a few circumstances and 13 percent want it to be illegal in all circumstances.
The numbers of pro-life Americans is increasing, however.
New concluded: “Despite an onslaught of negative media coverage about recently enacted pro-life laws, pro-life sentiment has actually remained remarkably durable,” writes Dr. Michael New in National Review.
The year before the Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade in Dobbs, Americans were about evenly divided between thinking abortion is morally acceptable or morally wrong. That followed two decades when those saying abortion is morally wrong usually prevailed. Since Dobbs, the plurality has consistently said abortion is morally acceptable rather than wrong, including by 49 percent to 40 percent today.
–Alan Goforth
