YouGov asks about abortion more often than once a year, which makes it a handy gauge of abortion opinion over the past couple of years since Dobbs. Here it is:
It would be nice if they had data before May 2022, but they don't. Still, it's better than most.
As it happens, by far the most popular opinion is that abortion should be allowed up to a certain point and then restricted. But what point? YouGov asked this as an open-ended question:¹
The middle point is at around 12-16 weeks. And what kind of restrictions should there be after that? Majorities agreed on rape, incest, life and health of the mother, or a serious or fatal disability in the fetus.
¹In this poll, 21% said it should never be restricted and 24% said it should always be restricted.
Also: 18% said abortion should always be legal and 12% said it should always be illegal. The answers you get depend a lot on poll wording.
How about if you poll only people who can ever face being pregnant? My opinion shouldn't matter.
"Shouldn't" isn't the same as "doesn't." All adults will consider this as part of their choice, so we should poll all adults (or at least all likely voters).
No. Just no. They can have an opinion on it. But their opinion should be given the legal and political weight of zero since they also aren’t impacted in any way by the outcome. (It’s the same as everyone can have an opinion on who JFO should fuck or not fuck, but nobody should be able to actually force JFO to fuck or not fuck anybody. Assuming JFO is of sound mind and an adult, all choices involving what to do with JFO’s body should be solely the purview of JFO.)
Bullshit. If she is forced to pop one out I have to pay child support. That's a big fucking impact.
Oh please, you don't actually believe the crap falling out of your mouth do you? Just 23% of single mothers receive child support from the father.
https://www.aecf.org/blog/less-than-1-in-4-single-mother-families-receive-child-support#:~:text=According%20to%202020%E2%80%932022%20data,children%20under%20age%2018%2C%20which
I've wondered why more men aren't vocal in favor of women's reproductive rights. I thought it affects men who have to support the children, but I guess there is no financial impact for a lot of men. Anecdotally, a lot of the women I knew who had abortions did so because the father wanted them to get the abortion.
Perhaps you should have used protection if you had a wish to fuck but not a wish to become a parent?
"protection" is not guaranteed, unless you mean procedures like vasectomies, etc., which I would encourage every GOPer to use.
Disagree.
1) While I am in favor of legalized abortion, most of those opposed consider it murder and people have a right to oppose what they consider murder.
2) And your reasoning carried to its logical conclusion would mean that women's opinion on things like prostate cancer and fraternities should be ignored.
uh....women's opinions on prostate cancer IS irrelevant. Unless you want women to get to vote on whether or not and what kind of treatment men should get for it.
My offspring are adults, so I have no personal ax to grind when it comes to child abuse, but that doesn't mean I'm not entitled to an opinion on the subject. In a democracy, we all are entitled to participate, even if we're not personally affected by the issue du jour.
There’s a difference between having an opinion and forcing your opinion on others. The latter is not freedom for the people subjected to it.
Also child abuse is categorically different. Everybody was once a child and thus everybody had an interest in not being abused themselves, as well as a current interest in not having to deal with lots of damaged adults in society needing ongoing care for the trauma they suffered. It’s unclear how abortion affects anybody else on the planet except the women having one and the doctors performing the procedure. Everyone else who isn’t in either group can have an opinion on it, but they should mind their own damn business since it doesn’t affect them at all either way it turns out for the women and the doctors.
Wouldn’t one normally argue the opposite and conclude people with no skin in the game are the best judges?
No skin in the game in this instance implies little if any understanding of the risks inherent in pregnancy and childbirth. So no not the best judges.
1: Evidence of the information gap?
2: Poll tests are illegal for good reason
Just that you asked the question is evidence that you're a man.
The reason that you should have no say in the discussion is that you have no standing. It is not your body.
If she consents to having the child and you are the father, than you have an interest in the child; a legal standing. I personally feel that men should have a right to consent at this point, too, and the option to surrender their rights as a father.
But your dude rights should never kick in unless the lucky lady agrees to that.
I've got no skin in the game on any number of issues, everything from the direction of fundamental physics to alternative energy, etc. OTOH, I know far more than most on many of those subjects.
Yer a frickin' moron if this is the hill you want to die on.
That’s ridiculous. Can you only oppose arson if you are a home owner?
If you don’t want an abortion, don’t have one. That’s the only opinion that should matter. Let God judge the other women for whatever it is that they’re doing, and mind your own damn business.
If you don’t like murder, don’t commit murder. It’s no business of yours if other people do it.
If you think it’s murder, what penalty do you propose for a woman who has an illegal abortion? (And I can’t believe we’re back to this argument again).
Wait! Apartments don't burn down?
In Europe 12-15 is pretty standard but then you have a huge amount of exceptions including economic and mental health of the mother so in practice it's quite different.
I checked a few countries and was going to make a similar comment. The devil is in the details given the various amounts of discretion different countries allow. Who does the deciding, and are they tough or liberal about it? If two doctors sign off on an abortion is that the last word? It could be from almost always denied to almost always allowed.
It would be interesting to know how it actually works in various countries.
Despite all the rancor, Kevin’s conclusion is correct: Americans support abortion in the first trimester as well as in emergency situations, but turn against abortions of healthy pregnancies during the second trimester. In practice this means the average American support 95-99% of abortions depending on where exactly you draw the line.
Yup. One party supports that and another doesn't.
So one party is attempting to represent the people's will and the other suppress it.
I think there's a large contingent of people who's support starts to waiver for women who are using abortion as birth control instead of being responsible. Stuff happens and a woman should be able to react when it does. But there's just not a lot of support for irresponsible behavior that leads to multiple abortions.
Too bad there's so little support for men being responsible for the results of the ejaculation.
That would certainly change the entire discussion.
Ogemaniac's got it right. Most Americans are perfectly comfortable leaving the decision up to the woman for the first trimester. The third trimester is only on the table if there is a very good reason (some serious medical problem). The second trimester is where the gray area lies, but also where far fewer women seek elective abortions.
Sadly, all of the fighting in the U.S. is taking place in the first trimester. The IVF ruling is the freakiest, most ridiculous position of all.