The poll is relevant because of the Mississippi legislation before the U.S. Supreme Court in Dobbs v. Jackson which would prevent abortions after 15-weeks’ gestation. The issue before the U.S. Supreme Court is whether or not it is permissible to protect children before viability.

 

According to The Wall Street Journal poll, “48% of voters said they would strongly or somewhat favor such restrictions, with exemptions to protect the life of the mother, while 43% were in opposition.”

 

“In 1973, when Roe v. Wade was decided, the technology did not exist to allow babies to survive outside the womb at 21 or 22-weeks’ gestation. With the advancement of science, more babies are surviving prior to what has been previously considered ‘viability,’” stated Carol Tobias, president of National Right to Life.

 

Continued Tobias, “The law involved in the Dobbs case has brought forward to the public the development of an unborn baby at 15-weeks’ gestation and, as Americans learn about the life of the unborn baby in the womb, they are rejecting abortion.”

 

The Wall Street Journal poll is consistent with an AP-NORC poll that was released in June 2021 by the Associated Press (AP). The AP poll found that 65% of respondents “said abortion should usually be illegal in the second trimester, and 80% said that about the third trimester.”

 

A summary of The Wall Street Journal poll can be found here.

 

The AP-NORC poll can be found here.