The Quickie: New Polling Shows Majority of People in Swing States Support Legal Abortion

Welcome to “The Quickie” — Planned Parenthood Action Fund’s daily tipsheet on the top health care & reproductive rights stories of the day. You can read “The Quickie'' online here.

In today’s Quickie: New polling on abortion, SC hears oral arguments in state ban, and a federal court rules limiting abortion care for teens unconstitutional. 

NEW POLLING SHOWS MAJORITY OF PEOPLE IN SWING STATES SUPPORT LEGAL ABORTION: Yesterday, the Public Religion Research Institute (PRRI) released new polling on abortion views in the United States. Research shows what we already know — most Americans support abortion rights. 

In swing states, including Arizona, Georgia, Michigan, Nevada, North Carolina, Pennsylvania, and Wisconsin, 64% of residents say abortion should be legal in all or most cases. In states with total bans or severe restrictions, the majority of people believe in legal access to abortion in all or most cases.

PRRI conducted more than 22,000 interviews to measure attitudes toward the legality of abortion, abortion pills, and how much abortion matters for voting. 

Read more in Time and the Washington Post. 

SOUTH CAROLINA HEARS ORAL ARGUMENTS ON STATE ABORTION BAN: Yesterday, a South Carolina circuit court heard arguments in a legal challenge to the state’s early abortion ban brought by abortion providers and a woman who was denied an abortion. The lawsuit seeks to clarify the current uncertainty in when the law applies based on its definition of “fetal heartbeat,” which has left abortion providers with no choice but to assume that the ban applies after approximately six weeks of pregnancy — before many people even know they are pregnant. 

Taylor Shelton, the named plaintiff, explained how the vague language impacted her, saying, “The lack of clarity in this law leaves people like me scrambling to navigate a convoluted system that fails to prioritize our well-being and autonomy… I also stand determined, fueled by the conviction that no one should endure what I went through. We deserve better. We deserve clear, unequivocal laws.”

Jenny Black, president and CEO of Planned Parenthood South Atlantic, released the following statement after oral arguments wrapped:

“It’s high time that the courts put an end to the chaos and confusion that this abortion ban’s ambiguities have created for patients like Taylor and for health care providers across the state. Until then, South Carolinians will continue to suffer in a state with dangerously high rates of maternal and infant mortality and be forced to travel hundreds—sometimes thousands—of miles for care, seek care outside the medical system, or remain pregnant against their will.”

Read more in AP.

FEDERAL COURT SAYS LIMITING ABORTION INFO FOR TEENS IS UNCONSTITUTIONAL: Earlier this week, a federal district court in Indiana ruled that a 2017 law barring health care providers from sharing certain information about abortion with young people violates the First Amendment. The law had been blocked since 2017 and had not been enforced, but would have prevented doctors and other licensed professionals from informing minors that they can obtain an abortion in another state that does not require parental consent or notice. 

“Young people deserve full access to reproductive health care, period,” Rebecca Gibron, CEO of Planned Parenthood Great Northwest, Hawai’i, Alaska, Indiana, Kentucky (PPGNHAIK), said in a statement. “Politicians attempting to block critical information that prevents minors from accessing care across state lines while abortion services are almost completely banned is beyond extreme; it’s cruel and inhumane.”

“Given Indiana’s near-total ban on abortions in the state, it is extremely important that medical providers and other persons retain the ability to inform patients, including minors, of their out-of-state options for receiving this vital health care,” said ACLU of Indiana senior staff attorney Gavin Rose. “We are grateful that the Court recognized that this right is one that is protected by fundamental free-speech principles."

The ACLU of Indiana and the ACLU are currently challenging a similar 2023 provision regarding gender affirming care with a case that is currently at the Seventh Circuit Court of Appeals. That law bars health care providers from taking any "any action that aids or abets another physician or practitioner in the provision of gender transition procedures for a minor."

Read more here.