Most Pennsylvania voters want abortion rights protected nationwide, new survey finds | The Pennsylvania Independent
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Reproductive rights advocate Kat Duesterhaus holds up a sign as U.S. President Joe Biden and his Republican rival, former President Donald Trump speak about abortion access, as the the first general election debate of the 2024 season is projected on a outdoor screen at the Nite Owl drive-in theater, Thursday, June 27, 2024, in Miami. (AP Photo/Rebecca Blackwell)

A majority of voters in six key swing states strongly oppose criminalizing abortion in the early stages of pregnancy, according to a recent survey conducted by the University of Maryland’s Program for Public Consultation. 

Respondents in Georgia, Arizona, Nevada, Michigan, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin said they oppose criminalizing abortion after fetal viability, which is generally considered to be between 22 and 24 weeks of pregnancy.

The survey was conducted as a policymaking simulation, providing participants with briefings and arguments for and against the policies about which they were then asked to respond. Respondents were given a choice of options regarding who should be held liable for either obtaining or providing an abortion and about whether or how severely they should be punished.

Participants were asked whether abortion should be a crime at all stages of pregnancy, after 15 weeks of pregnancy, after 22 to 24 weeks, or at no stage of pregnancy.

In Pennsylvania, 73% of Democratic survey respondents and 53% of Republican respondents said they oppose making abortion a crime at any stage of pregnancy. Just 39% of respondents in the state said abortion providers should be charged with a crime, while 72% of respondents opposed charging a patient who obtains an abortion with a crime.

“I think the most striking finding is that you have these big bipartisan majorities agreeing on the core question, which is whether abortion should be criminalized,” said Steven Kull, the director of the University of Maryland’s Program for Public Consultation.

When it came to leaving abortion laws up to the states, 69% of Pennsylvania respondents said they preferred a national federal law protecting the procedure. This includes majorities of Republicans in five of the six swing states, except Nevada. Kull said this finding is likely a reaction to the U.S. Supreme Court’s 2022 ruling in Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization, which reversed Roe v. Wade.

Abortion in Pennsylvania is banned after 24 weeks of pregnancy, but there is a long list of restrictions before someone can obtain care even before then. Patients are required to wait 24 hours after counseling before having an abortion, only physicians can perform an abortion, and Medicaid coverage of abortion is banned in the state.

“I think what’s important is that, though there are differences in attitudes about abortion per se … when it comes to the choice about whether or not abortion should be criminalized, there’s actually a remarkable amount of common ground,” Kull said.

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