I've had several posts looking at opinions on abortion, as measured by questions on whether it should be legal in particular circumstances. But there's another factor that may be important to people--how far advanced the pregnancy is. Survey questions on abortion at different stages of pregnancy are less common than questions on circumstances, but I found some. In 1975, Gallup asked "Do you think abortions should be legal under any circumstances, legal only under certain circumstances, or illegal in all circumstances?" 21% said legal under any circumstances, 53% under certain circumstances, and 23% illegal in all circumstances (the other 3% said they didn't know). People who said that abortion should be legal under some or any circumstances were then asked parallel questions about abortion in the first three months, the second three months, and the final three months. That question was never asked again, but in 2021 an Associated Press survey asked "I'd like to ask you about abortions during the three trimesters of pregnancy. Do you think abortion should be legal in all cases, legal in most cases, illegal in most cases, or illegal in all cases during...the first trimester, that is, the first three months of pregnancy?" with parallel questions about the second and third trimester. If you put the two Gallup questions together and combine the two middle categories on the AP question, you can classify opinions into three categories:
First trimester Legal Sometimes Illegal
1975 24% 46% 25%
2021 38% 45% 16%
Second Legal Sometimes Illegal
1975 10% 36% 47%
2021 15% 49% 35%
Third Legal Sometimes Illegal
1975 6% 27% 63%
2021 8% 37% 54%
This comparison shows increased support for legal abortion. I think that the way that the question was asked in 1975 may account for some of the difference, but not all of it. That is, most people answering the first question probably didn't spend time thinking about every possible contingency, so someone who said "illegal in all" with a general question might have been willing to make an exception if you asked directly about some condition. But while this would be relevant to abortion in the first trimester, it seems less relevant to the second and certainly not to the third--that is, there are people who would allow abortions only if they are sufficiently early in the pregnancy, but nobody is in favor of abortions only if they are late in the pregnancy. Despite the rise in support for legal abortion, even in 2021 a majority said that abortion should be completely illegal in the last trimester (and another 26% who said it should be "illegal in most cases").
Gallup also had a question asking "do you think abortion should be generally legal or generally illegal during the following stages of pregnancy" that was asked in 1996, 2003, and 2012:
First Legal Illegal
1996 64% 30%
2003 66% 29%
2012 61% 31%
Second Legal Illegal
1996 26% 65%
2003 25% 68%
2012 27% 64%
Third Legal Illegal
1996 13% 82%
2003 10% 84%
2012 14% 80%
No sign of a change. Although I haven't looked systematically, I think the increase in support suggested by the first comparison probably happened in the 1970s and 1980s.
[Data from the Roper Center for Public Opinion Research]
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