Views on abortion, 1995-2019
As of 2019, public support for legal abortion remains as high as it has been in two decades of polling. Currently, 61% say abortion should be legal in all or most cases, while 38% say it should be illegal in all or most cases.
Views on abortion, 2019: A detailed look
Though abortion is a divisive issue, more than half of U.S. adults take a non-absolutist position, saying that in most – but not all – cases, abortion should be legal (34%) or illegal (26%). Fewer take the position that in all cases abortion should be either legal (27%) or illegal (12%).
Views on abortion by religious affiliation, 2019
About three-quarters of white evangelical Protestants (77%) think abortion should be illegal in all or most cases.
By contrast, 83% of religiously unaffiliated Americans say abortion should be legal in all or most cases, as do nearly two-thirds of black Protestants (64%), six-in-ten white mainline Protestants (60%) and a slim majority of Catholics (56%).
Views on abortion by party identification, 2019
About six-in-ten Republicans and those who lean toward the Republican Party (62%) say abortion should be illegal in all or most cases. By contrast, 82% of Democrats and those who lean toward the Democratic Party say abortion should be legal in all or most cases.
Views on abortion by political party and ideology, 2019
Conservative Republicans and Republican leaners are far more likely to say abortion should be illegal in all or most cases than to say that it should be legal (77% vs. 22%). Among moderate and liberal Republicans, 57% say abortion should be legal, while 41% say it should be illegal.
The vast majority of liberal Democrats and Democratic leaners support legal abortion (91%), as do three-quarters of conservative and moderate Democrats (75%).
Views on abortion by gender, 2019
Men and women express similar views on abortion; 60% of women say it should be legal in all or most cases, as do 61% of men.
Views on abortion by age, 2019
Among adults under age 30, 70% say abortion should be legal in all or most cases, as do nearly two-thirds of adults in their 30s and 40s (64%). More than half of those in their 50s and early 60s (54%) and those ages 65 and older (55%) say the same.
Views on abortion by level of education, 2019
Seven-in-ten college graduates (70%) say abortion should be legal in all or most cases, as do 60% of those with some college education. A slim majority of those with a high school degree or less education share this opinion: 54% say abortion should be legal in all or most cases, while 44% say it should be illegal in all or most cases.
Note: For more information on other religious groups or state-by-state data on views about abortion, see our Religious Landscape Study.
Source: Survey conducted July 22-Aug. 4, 2019. Trend lines show aggregated data from polls conducted in each year. 2019 data from Pew Research Center’s online American Trends Panel; prior data from telephone surveys. See report for more details on changes in survey mode. Question wording can be found here, and information on the Pew Research Center’s polling methodology can be found here.
