What portion of reproductive age American women think abortion to be legal in most or all cases?
Critical Analysis
Find answers to the following questions using the visual above, any links below, your big brain, and your knowledge of American government and politics:
According to the data from the chart above, identify the percentage of reproductive age women who think abortion should be legal in most or all cases.
According to the data from the chart above, what racial/ethnic group is most supportive of legal abortion?
According to the data from the chart above, describe how Party ID (a person’s political party affiliation) impacts think about the legality of abortion.
If three out of four women of reproductive age want abortion to be legal why do you think it is not legal in all parts of America?
Using the data from the chart below, describe one trend in the data between 1995 and 2021.
Describe how party affiliation and religion impact opinion on reproductive rights (see charts below).*
Before Roe v. Wade (1973), different states had different laws on the legality of abortion. The landmark Supreme Court case, Roe v. Wade (1973) ruled that In the first trimester of pregnancy, the state may not regulate the abortion decision; only the pregnant woman and her attending physician can make that decision. In 2021 the Supreme Court with three new Trump appointees issued the ruling in Dobbs v. Jackson Women's Health Organization that overturned Roe and returned the question of legality of abortion to the states. Abortion has been on the ballot in six states since June 2022. In each instance, anti-abortion groups have lost. This issue has been beneficial to Democrats in nation wide elections since the Dobbs ruling. Why do you think that is?
In 2024, up to 11 states may have abortion measures on their ballot seeking to either affirm that the state constitution protects the right to abortion or that nothing in the constitution confers such a right. How do you think this will impact the presidential election?
If you had to guess how many of the 11 states that have abortion on the ballot in the 2024 election will increase abortion rights?
If we had a purely democratic system and took a vote on abortion’s legality, based on the data from the chart above, abortion would probably be legal. But we don’t vote on certain things, and certain rights are protected no matter their popularity. What is the name of the type of democracy which protects the rights of the minority?
Write and Discuss
Take ten minutes to write about the question at the top of the page and then discuss with your classmates.
Act on your Learning
Take the ISideWith quiz to see which presidential candidate best aligns with your politial opinions and values.
Get Creative
Write an amendment to the Constitution regarding the issue of abortion. Use one of these 27 Amendments as a model for the language and style of your amendment.
