Roe vs. Wade Overturned? Most Americans Believe Abortion Should Be Woman, Doctor's Decision

More than half of Americans believe that Roe v. Wade should be upheld, according to results of a national survey that was released amid reports the Supreme Court (SC) was going to overturn its nearly 50-year-old decision.

Around 54% of Americans said the high court should uphold the 1973 Roe v. Wade ruling, while 28% said it should be overturned, an ABC News/Washington Post poll with 1,004 adult participants found.

In addition, 58% of those surveyed believe abortions should be legal in all or most cases, and 70% said the decision of whether a woman can have an abortion should be left to her and her doctor, results of the landline and cell phone poll revealed.

About 37% and 24% of participants, respectively, believe abortions should be illegal in all or most cases and that they should be regulated by law, according to the poll.

The 58% figure supporting the legality of abortions is very near the 56% average result the view maintained since 1995, results showed.

"Basic views on whether or not abortion should be legal have been more or less stable in polling back 27 years," an analysis of the poll said.

While more than half of Americans have expressed support for Roe v. Wade, the number holding the view dropped 6 percentage points since the last ABC News/Washington Post poll in November 2021.

“Preference for reversing it is essentially unchanged; instead, more in this survey express no opinion" at 18%, the pollsters explained.

The ABC News/Washington Post poll was conducted between April 24 and 28, days before Politico reported that the Supreme Court has voted to strike down Roe v. Wade and a subsequent 1992 decision, Planned Parenthood of Southeastern Pennsylvania v. Casey.

"We hold that Roe and Casey must be overruled," Justice Samuel Alito wrote in a leaked 98-page draft majority opinion labeled "Opinion of the Court."

The document reportedly called for reversing Roe v. Wade in Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization, a case challenging Mississippi's ban on abortions after 15 weeks of pregnancy.

Overturning Roe v. Wade could have lasting negative health and financial impacts, Scientific American reported, citing research by Turnaway Study.

Being denied a wanted abortion may have serious consequences on women's health and wellbeing, the study concluded.

Additionally, women who are denied a wanted abortion and are forced to carry an unwanted pregnancy to term have four times greater odds of living below federal poverty levels.