Women United on Abortion? Not Entirely
Oct. 13, 2024
A strong majority of American voters favor assuring access to abortions, and yet not all women are on board.
Just as many men as women are pro-choice. On the other hand, just as many women as men are pro-life. Gender is hardly the deciding factor as voters go to the polls with abortion on the ballot in 10 states and looming large in the presidential race.
The biggest nemeses for pro-choicers are Republicans, evangelicals, and rural communities. No news there. What is a little surprising, however, is that those groups are predominated by women.
These observations come out of the latest nationwide public opinion survey conducted by Survey USA for Our Common Purpose. Topical questions such as abortion were not the primary purpose of the survey, which you’ll be reading much more about in the coming months, but the results do kind of jump off the screen.
This particular poll has Kamala Harris running neck and neck with Donald Trump, 45% to 45%, thanks in good part to disproportionate support from women. Harris had an 8-point lead among women; Trump a 10-point lead with men. The confidence interval of this nationwide voting sample of 2,300 registered voters conducted from Sept. 13 to 19 is +/- 2.6 percentage points. While the sample size is not sufficient to predict the outcome of the presidential election in battleground states nor predict the outcome of abortion measures state by state, it does provide an ample window on which way the nation is leaning.
The poll shows 62% of respondents favor allowing some level of access to abortion, represented by lines 2, 3 and 4 on the table below. Men tend to giving less leeway, by a small margin. Women lean a little more to no restrictions, again by a small margin. Overall though there is no gender gap. In fact, of the six topical issues explored in this poll, abortion drew the smallest percentage differences between men and women.
| Line | On abortion, which do you favor? | Totals | Men | Women |
| 1 | Prohibit all but the most extreme | 29% | 29% | 29% |
| 2 | Allow for some short amount of time | 23% | 25% | 22% |
| 3 | Allow up to the time of fetal viability | 18% | 18% | 19% |
| 4 | No restrictions | 21% | 20% | 22% |
| 5 | Not sure | 8% | 9% | 8% |
A less favorable way of looking at the same results is that a differently constituted majority, in this case represented by lines 1 and 2 above, would like to impose tighter restrictions than existed under Roe v. Wade, either by prohibiting abortions entirely or by allowing only a shorter timeframe.
The highest number of opponents, no surprise, are Republicans, evangelicals, and rural residents. What is something of a surprise is that within these groups, the more frequent opponents — albeit by small margins — are women. Their belief systems overcome any bond of sisterhood.
| Prohibit all but the most extreme | Totals | Men | Women |
| Overall | 29% | 29% | 29% |
| Republicans | 45% | 43% | 48% |
| Evangelicals | 45% | 40% | 49% |
| Rural residents | 36% | 35% | 38% |
The latest iteration of the women’s movement has succeeded in making the abortion issue front and center, managed to energize supporters, and likely will draw a number of women to the polls who otherwise would not have voted.
The incongruity is that other women have made a choice of their own, and that’s not to allow the right to choose.