Common Ground • May 3rd, 2022

Here's Where Democrats and Republicans Agree on Abortion

Abortion,Pro-Life,Pro-Choice,Women's Issues,Common Ground

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Common ground often exists on issues where you’d least expect it. Abortion is no exception.

According to major pollsters, there is deep disagreement in the U.S. on abortion legality and access, and Americans are closely divided over whether a pregnant woman should be able to obtain a legal abortion if she wants one for any reason.

Related: AllStances™: Should Abortions Be Legal or Banned?

But within that broader debate are many areas of agreement that get less attention from biased news sources. Here are a few examples of data and stories to support that:

According to 2024 Quinnipiac University data, 66% of Americans believe abortion should be legal in all cases, and 89% believe it should be legal when the mother’s life is at risk.
Pew Research Center in 2024 reports that 63% of Americans believe abortion should be legal in most cases, with 61% of men and 64% of women agreeing.
KFF found in 2024 that about 8 in 10 Americans believe abortion should be available in cases of rape or incest.
A 2024 Navigator poll revealed that 58% of Americans believe overturning Roe v. Wade was bad for the country, with 62% of Independents agreeing.
Gallup reported in 2023 that 55% of Americans oppose abortion in the second trimester and 70% oppose it in the third trimester.
In 2025, Gallup found a growing gender divide: 61% of women identify as pro-choice, while only 41% of men say the same.
2021 data from Pew Research Center still holds relevance: 70% of women and 69% of men said they did not want Roe v. Wade completely overturned.
2021 data from Associated Press (Lean Left) and NORC Center for Public Affairs Research found that 61% of Americans say abortion should be legal in most or all circumstances in the first trimester of a pregnancy. 65% said abortion should usually be illegal in the second trimester, and 80% said that about the third trimester.
2018 data from Gallup (Center bias) says that 83% think abortion should be legal in the first trimester when the woman's life is endangered, and 77% think first-trimester abortions should be legal when the pregnancy is the result of rape.
2011 data from Gallup found that large percentages of the U.S. population are in favor of requiring informed consent for women (86% of pro-choice adults and 87% who are pro-life) and making abortion illegal in the third trimester (79% of pro-choice adults and 94% of pro-life adults).