WASHINGTON, D.C. – Americans United for Life in partnership with non-partisan polling firm YouGov released findings today from a national survey of 1,326 American adults involving attitudes toward abortion and the rights of patients. The survey took place over a three day span from October 25-October 28, three weeks after the Supreme Court of the United States’ decision to take up Louisiana abortion case, June Medical Services, LLC v. Gee. The legislation at the heart of Gee ensures that no woman can be abandoned by an abortion practitioner, and that when a woman’s life is threatened from complications arising from an abortion, emergency transfer laws will ensure her access to life-saving medical care.
Among the survey’s key findings:
- A vast majority of Americans (78.2%) believe that physicians performing abortions should be able to transfer women who experience complications directly to the emergency room;
- 70% agree that abortion facilities should be held to the same medical standards as any ordinary hospital;
- 73.8% support states being able to pass safeguards that ensure abortion facilities are in compliance with basic medical practices and sanitation;
- Three out of four Americans agree that abortion doctors should be held to the same medical standards as ordinary physicians; and
- Of those surveyed,43.3% were self-identified pro-choice, 35.5% were pro-life, and 23.9% were neither.
“This survey highlights that Americans, regardless of their personal views on abortion, stand with us in our fight to protect a woman’s right to health care and emergency medical attention,” stated AUL President & CEO Catherine Glenn Foster in response to YouGov’s findings. “Women deserve the same standard of care no matter who their doctor is. Continued efforts by elected officials and political institutions to limit protections and safeguards for women are out of step with core American values.”
The Louisiana abortion law at the center of the Supreme Court Case is consistent with AUL’s model legislation on the issue, and AUL is proud to have had a role in seeing it passed and successfully defended in court.
The full version of YouGov’s survey is available here.
Americans United for Life (AUL) is a nonprofit, public-interest law and policy organization that holds the distinction of being the first national pro-life organization in America—incorporated in 1971. It protects and defends human life from conception to natural death through vigorous legislative, judicial, and educational efforts.
