3 Maps Showing Support & Opposition To Abortion Legality By State

Given the highly polarized views on abortion in the United States right now, I found the following 3 maps very interesting.

They come from the very thorough Abortion Views in All 50 States Findings From PRRI’s 2023 American Values Atlas.

Support for Abortion Legality by State

Opposition to Abortion Legality by State

Here is the data breakdown by state, and below you can also see the current status of each state in terms of legality or lack thereof.

Support for Abortion Legality By State (Percentage)
State	Legal in all cases	Legal in most cases	DK/Refused	Illegal in most cases	Illegal in all cases
Hawaii	35	44	0	18	3
Massachusetts	39	39	1	16	5
Nevada	32	44	1	21	2
Vermont	43	33	0	20	5
District of Columbia	36	38	1	20	5
New Hampshire	30	44	2	16	9
New York	35	39	2	19	5
Maryland	35	38	2	20	5
Washington	39	34	2	18	7
Connecticut	41	31	5	19	4
Delaware	29	43	4	16	9
New Jersey	34	38	3	19	7
Oregon	41	31	1	19	9
Rhode Island	33	38	6	15	8
Virginia	30	41	3	19	8
Alaska	36	33	0	25	6
California	31	37	2	21	9
Illinois	33	35	3	20	8
Minnesota	26	41	3	24	6
New Mexico	27	40	1	24	8
North Carolina	25	41	1	24	9
Wisconsin	29	37	1	24	8
Colorado	30	35	2	25	8
Maine	25	40	1	29	5
Kansas	30	34	5	20	10
Ohio	29	35	2	28	7
All Americans	29	35	2	26	9
Florida	25	37	2	27	9
Georgia	30	33	3	26	7
Michigan	32	31	3	26	7
Pennsylvania	27	36	3	26	9
Arizona	24	36	2	30	8
Iowa	25	34	4	30	8
Indiana	25	33	1	31	9
Montana	28	29	0	28	15
West Virginia	19	38	0	37	6
Oklahoma	22	34	3	29	12
Texas	23	33	1	32	11
Missouri	24	31	1	34	11
Alabama	25	29	2	31	13
Louisiana	22	31	3	30	14
Tennessee	21	32	2	36	9
South Carolina	22	30	2	31	15
Wyoming	28	24	0	39	10
Nebraska	19	32	2	34	14
Kentucky	20	30	2	32	16
Mississippi	22	28	2	38	11
North Dakota	18	29	0	36	16
South Dakota	18	29	0	42	10
Arkansas	23	23	1	40	13
Idaho	14	31	1	42	12
Utah	19	26	1	49	5

Actual Abortion Legality By State

Completely Banned

Abortion is banned at all points during a pregnancy with very few exceptions

Alabama
Arkansas
Idaho
Indiana
Kentucky
Louisiana
Mississippi
Missouri
North Dakota
Oklahoma
South Dakota
Tennessee
Texas
West Virginia

Very Restrictive

Abortion is legal only before a strict gestational limit, ranging from 6–20 weeks of pregnancy

Arizona
Florida
Georgia
Nebraska
North Carolina
South Carolina
Utah

Somewhat Restrictive

Abortion is legal until viability (approximately 24–26 weeks of pregnancy) or until 22–24 weeks

California
Connecticut
Delaware
Hawaii
Illinois
Iowa
Kansas
Maine
Maryland
Massachusetts
Michigan
Montana
Nevada
New Hampshire
New York
Ohio
Pennsylvania
Rhode Island
Virginia
Washington
Wisconsin
Wyoming

Least Restrictive

Abortion is legal with no gestational limits

Alaska
Colorado
District of Columbia
Minnesota
New Jersey
New Mexico
Oregon
Vermont

Here is the Executive Summary of the Report:

Nearly two-thirds of Americans support abortion legality in all or most cases; partisans remain deeply divided.

More than six in ten Americans (64%) say abortion should be legal in most or all cases; by contrast, 35% of Americans say abortion should be illegal in most or all cases.
Just 9% of Americans believe that abortion should be illegal in all cases.
Majorities of Americans living in states where abortion is currently banned support abortion legality; support for abortion legality is higher in states where abortion regulations are the least restrictive.
Nearly seven in ten Americans in states that are the least restrictive (69%) or somewhat restrictive (69%) say that abortion should be legal in all or most cases, compared with 61% of Americans in states that are very restrictive and 53% of Americans in states where abortion is completely banned.
Most Americans oppose laws that make it illegal to use or receive through the mail FDA-approved drugs for medical abortion, including a majority of Republicans.
Republicans and Democrats are deeply divided on abortion, with a 50-point gap between them: 86% of Democrats say abortion should be legal in all or most cases, compared with 36% of Republicans. Just 15% of Republicans believe abortion should be illegal in all cases.
While Republican attitudes on abortion legality remain largely unchanged since 2010, Democratic support for abortion legality increased from 71% in 2010 to 86% in 2023; Support for abortion legality has also increased among independents over time, from 54% in 2010 to 67% in 2023.
A slight gender gap has emerged among Americans with respect to abortion rights, a change from earlier polling.
More than six in ten men (62%) and two-thirds of women (66%) say abortion should be legal in all or most cases.
Overall, there is no gender gap between Democratic women (86%) and Democratic men (86%); however, Democratic women ages 18 to 29 support abortion legality (92%) at higher rates than young Democratic men (86%).
As of 2023, Republican women (39%) are more likely than Republican men (34%) to say abortion should be legal in all or most cases. In 2010, by contrast, Republican women were slightly less supportive of abortion legality (33%) than Republican men (36%).
Independent women are slightly more supportive of abortion legality (69%) than independent men (65%).
Most people of faith support abortion legality.
The only major religious groups in which a majority do not support abortion legality in all or most cases are white evangelical Protestants (27%), Latter-day Saints (30%), and Jehovah’s Witnesses (25%).
Majorities across most religious traditions say that abortion should be legal in all or most cases, including Unitarian Universalists (93%), Jewish Americans (81%), Buddhists (79%), other Catholics of color (73%), Black Protestants (71%), white mainline/non-evangelical Protestants (68%), white Catholics (62%), Muslims (60%), Hispanic Catholics (57%), and other Protestants of color (52%).
Among religiously unaffiliated Americans, 87% say that abortion should be legal in most or all cases.
A majority of residents in most states say that abortion should be legal; in no state do more than 16% of Americans support a ban on abortion.
A majority of residents in most states say that abortion should be legal in all or most cases; there are only five states where a minority of residents support abortion legality.
Roughly one in ten residents in most states say abortion should be illegal in all cases. This belief is most common in Kentucky and North Dakota (both 16%).
Majorities of residents in blue states (70%) and red states (57%) and nearly two-thirds (64%) of residents in battleground states (Arizona, Georgia, Michigan, Nevada, North Carolina, Pennsylvania, and Wisconsin) say that abortion should be legal in all or most cases.
Abortion has become a more salient voting issue in the last five years; Democrats continue to prioritize abortion as a voting issue compared with Republicans, as do women and younger voters.
Over one-third of Americans (36%) say they would only vote for a candidate who shares their views on abortion. In 2018, a notably lower number of Americans (21%) said they would only vote for a candidate who shares their views on abortion.
Democrats (47%) are more likely than Republicans (34%) to say that they would only vote for a candidate who shares their views on abortion; in 2018, about one-fourth of both Democrats (23%) and Republicans (25%) said they would only vote for a candidate who shares their views on abortion.
Women (40%) are more likely than men (32%) to say that they would only vote for a candidate who shares their view on abortion.
More than four in ten young Americans ages 18 to 29 (43%) say they will only vote for a candidate who shares their views on abortion; 53% of Democrats 18 to 29 report that they would only vote for a candidate who shares their views, compared with 41% of Republicans
in that age group.
In battleground states, Democrats and women prioritize abortion as a voting issue more than
Republicans and men.
Democrats are 12 percentage points more likely than Republicans in battleground states to say that they will only vote for a candidate who shares their abortion views (46% vs. 34%).
Women in battleground states are 9 points more likely than men (41% vs. 32%) to say that they will only vote for a candidate who shares their views on abortion.
Half of Democratic women in battleground states (50%) say they will only vote for a candidate who shares their views on abortion, compared with 42% of Democratic men in battleground states.
Similarly, Republican women are more likely than Republican men in battleground states (38% vs. 30%) to say that they will only vote for a candidate who shares their views on abortion.
Among all Americans, over two-thirds (68%) oppose laws that make it illegal to use or receive through the mail FDA-approved drugs for medical abortion, often called abortion pills, while about three in ten (29%) favor these laws.
Democrats (79%) and independents (71%) are significantly more likely than Republicans (54%) to oppose laws that make it illegal to use or receive abortion pills through the mail.
Majorities across all religious groups oppose laws that make it illegal to access abortion pills by mail, but Latter-day Saints (53%) and white evangelical Protestants (51%) are the least likely to oppose such laws.
Republicans in states where abortion is least restrictive (42%) or somewhat restrictive (42%) are more likely than Republicans in states where abortion is very restrictive (36%) or completely banned (27%) to say abortion should be legal.
Seven in ten independents in states that are the least restrictive (71%) or somewhat restrictive (70%) believe abortion should be legal, compared with 64% of independents in states where abortion is very restricted or 60% of independents in states where abortion is completely banned.
There is a distinct connection between Christian nationalism and support or opposition to abortion policies in all states.
Christian nationalism Rejecters nearly unanimously (93%) support the legality of abortion in all or most cases, as do two-thirds of Christian nationalism Skeptics (67%). In comparison, 40% of Christian nationalism Sympathizers and only one-quarter (25%) of Christian nationalism Adherents say the same.
When examining Christian nationalism Adherents’ and Sympathizers’ views on abortion by racial groups, Black Christian nationalism Adherents and Sympathizers (59%) are about twice as likely as Hispanic Christian nationalism Adherents and Sympathizers (34%) and white Christian nationalism Adherents and Sympathizers (29%) to say abortion should be legal in all or most cases.
In all 50 states, overall, the higher a state’s residents scored on the Christian nationalism scale, the less likely they are to support abortion legality.