WSJ poll: Support for 15-week abortion ban outweighs opposition

A new poll from The Wall Street Journal found more Americans support a ban on abortions 15 weeks or more into a pregnancy than oppose it.

In the poll, 48 percent said they strongly or somewhat favored a 15-week abortion ban with the exception of protecting the health of the mother, while 43 percent were opposed to such a ban.

The poll found 31 percent strongly supported the ban, and 17 percent somewhat supported it. On the opposite side, about 34 percent strongly opposed the measure, while around 10 percent somewhat opposed it. 

The results come as lawmakers in several states proceed with bills that would ban abortion after 15 weeks of pregnancy.

The Supreme Court is set to consider a bill from Mississippi which would ban abortions 15 weeks into a pregnancy. The Supreme Court has a 6-3 conservative majority.

According to Mark Penn, the results highlight the complexity of abortion opinions in America. “A majority opposes overturning Roe v. Wade but most would support moving the viability threshold to 15 weeks instead of 24 weeks,” Mark Penn, the co-director of a Harvard CAPS-Harris Poll survey, said back in December.

The new poll was conducted between March 2nd and March 7th among 1,500 registered voters. The margin of error regarding the support for 15-week abortion bans was 3.6 percentage points, while the margin of error for whether abortion should be legal was 2.5 percentage points.