The Perpetual Battle Over Abortion Rights | Washington Monthly

Contributing sentiments towards policy:

53% : The political battle over cultural or moral issues -- like, say, same-sex marriage -- typically follows a familiar path.
45% : California, New York, Maryland, and other states passed same-sex marriage laws.
43% : Experts expect the Court's six-member conservative majority to, at the very least, uphold the law, which would contradict the holding of Roe v. Wade (1973), the decision that established a constitutional right to abortion and prohibited state bans on abortions before fetal viability, or around 24 weeks.
42% : Sometimes a court decision like Obergefell v. Hodges (2015) -- which required states to issue marriage licenses to same-sex couples and recognize same-sex marriages performed in other jurisdictions -- clears that final hurdle.
41% : One reason abortion has been a contentious issue for so long is that public opinion in general has remained intensely polarized, largely along party lines.
40% : It works that way for almost every cultural or moral issue -- except abortion.
40% : The combination of a divided public and activists waging a fiercely moral battle makes abortion unique from issues that are less divisive or deeply felt.
39% : We're now seeing similar trends with legalizing marijuana, abolishing the death penalty, and implementing stronger gun control measures, as a patchwork of laws are being passed to reflect growing support among the general public.
37% : While the fact that a clear majority of Americans support legalization might be enough to calm the storm on an issue like marijuana, the struggle over abortion rights is exacerbated beyond poll numbers because members of both sides care so deeply, with people seeing it as literally a matter of life and death.
36% : And since the legislative branch has not codified abortion rights into federal law, due to the divide over abortion in Congress, Roe has remained vulnerable.
35% : In contrast to the clear consensus in Canada (77 percent), France (86 percent), or Sweden (87 percent), 59 percent of Americans say abortion should be legal in all or most cases, while 39 percent believe it should be illegal in all or most cases, which is strikingly similar to polling from 1975.
34% : Many believe the Court will go even further and overturn Roeentirely, likely triggering 26 states to immediately outlaw abortion and turn back nearly 50 years of progress.
34% : Those who want to outlaw abortion view it as murder and an unequivocally immoral act, while many pro-choice advocates see restrictions as a sexist invasion of a woman's privacy and bodily autonomy.
32% : The battle over the legalization of abortion has been so fierce and prolonged that it is difficult to imagine a more contentious issue.
9% : Clarence Thomas, John Roberts, Samuel Alito, Neil Gorsuch, Brett Kavanaugh, and Amy Coney Barrett are all current or former Federalist Society members, making Dobbs the culmination of a decades-long effort by those who want to outlaw abortion.

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