Pew: Opposition to abortion growing in South & MidWest, receding elsewhere.

[pampango]

Widening Regional Divide over Abortion Laws

Opposition to legal abortion is highest in parts of the South – including Texas, which recently passed sweeping new abortion restrictions. The South Central region is the only one in which opposition to legal abortion has significantly increased since the mid-1990s. By contrast, support for legal abortion remains highest in New England – and the gap between New England and South Central states has widened considerably over the past two decades.



This month Texas joined 12 other states, mainly in the South and Midwest, that have banned abortions at no later than 22 weeks of pregnancy. (The new Texas law bans abortions at 20 weeks. Some of these other laws are temporarily blocked by court injunction.) In polling conducted in 2012 and 2013, about half (49%) of the residents of these 13 states believe abortion should be illegal in all or most cases. By comparison, in the other 37 states and the District of Columbia, just 36% agree, while 58% say abortion should be legal in all or most cases.



These differences reflect a broader regional divide. New England residents are most likely to favor legalized abortion. Fully 75% say abortion should be legal in all or most cases, while 20% say abortions should be illegal in all or most cases. Roughly two-thirds (65%) in the Pacific Coast region, and solid majorities in the Mid-Atlantic (61%) and Mountain West (59%) also favor legal abortion.



There are signs that this regional disparity may be widening over time, as views in the South have turned more strongly against abortion. In Washington Post/ABC news surveys conducted over the course of 1995 and 1996, 70% of New England residents generally supported legal access to abortion compared with 52% in the South Central region – an 18-point gap. This difference has nearly doubled to 35 points in Pew Research Center surveys over the past year-and-a-half, as support for legal abortion remains widespread in New England (75%), but has fallen to just 40% in the South Central states.

http://www.people-press.org/2013/07/29/widening-regional-divide-over-abortion-laws/