(C) Daily Kos
This story was originally published by Daily Kos and is unaltered.
. . . . . . . . . .
Ohio's vote looms large: CBS poll reveals growing concerns over abortion restrictions [1]
['Daily Kos Staff']
Date: 2023-11-07
A new CBS News poll shows why abortion isn’t going anywhere as a major issue in upcoming elections. From Ohio’s vote Tuesday on Issue 1, which would put the right to abortion in the state constitution, to Virginia and other states where Tuesday’s elections could tip the balance on abortion rights, to the 2024 presidential and congressional elections, the issue is ubiquitous. But the poll also clearly shows the extreme disregard for women’s health that underlies abortion bans.
People see that abortion bans are making women less safe: 74% of those polled said they were concerned that pregnant women may be more at risk in places where abortion is illegal, 60% were concerned that maternity centers and hospitals may close, and 52% were concerned about doctors leaving the state. Those first two concerns were held by majorities of people living in states with abortion bans.
Just over half of all people polled said that being pregnant in the U.S. was becoming more dangerous since the Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade, and 43% said that women’s access to reproductive health care is getting harder.
But here’s the thing: People who oppose abortion don’t care. Among the minority of people who said abortion should be mostly illegal, 65% of them said they would prefer to live in a state where there were few women’s health services and abortion was mostly restricted, while 35% said they would prefer to live in a state where there were a lot of women’s health services and abortion was generally available. To abortion opponents, it’s desirable to trade away availability of women’s health services if it means banning abortion.
It’s disturbing that a substantial minority of Americans think banning abortion is worth sacrificing women’s health services, but the majority views in this poll—support for legal abortion, a clear view of the harm done by abortion bans—are bad news for Republicans and a hopeful sign for Ohio. This comes at the cost of dangerous pregnancies and rights denied for too many and it will take far too long to fix one election cycle and one Supreme Court appointment at a time. But there is a path forward, and it runs straight through another of the poll’s key numbers: 43% of Democrats said that abortion makes them more likely to vote in 2024, while just 24% of Republicans said the same.
[END]
---
[1] Url:
https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2023/11/7/2204160/-The-stakes-are-clear-as-Ohio-votes-Americans-see-abortion-bans-making-pregnancy-more-dangerous?pm_campaign=front_page&pm_source=top_news_slot_7&pm_medium=web
Published and (C) by Daily Kos
Content appears here under this condition or license: Site content may be used for any purpose without permission unless otherwise specified.
via Magical.Fish Gopher News Feeds:
gopher://magical.fish/1/feeds/news/dailykos/
