Women's Knowledge of and Support for Abortion Restrictions in Texas: Findings from a Statewide Representative Survey

Abstract

CONTEXT States have passed numerous laws restricting abortion, and Texas passed some of the most restrictive legislation between 2011 and 2013. Information about women’s awareness of and support for the laws’ provisions could inform future debates regarding abortion legislation. METHODS Between December 2014 and January 2015, some 779 women aged 18–49 participated in an online, statewide representative survey about recent abortion laws in Texas. Poisson regression analysis was used to assess correlates of support for a law that would make obtaining an abortion more difficult. Women’s knowledge of specific abortion restrictions in Texas and reasons for supporting these laws were also assessed. RESULTS Overall, 31% of respondents would support a law making it more difficult to obtain an abortion. Foreign-born Latinas were more likely than whites to support such a law (prevalence ratio, 1.5), and conservative Republicans were more likely than moderates and Independents to do so (2.3). Thirty-six percent of respondents were not very aware of recent Texas laws, and 19% had never heard of them. Among women with any awareness of the laws, 19% supported the requirements; 42% of these individuals said this was because such laws would make abortion safer. CONCLUSIONS Many Texas women of reproductive age are unaware of statewide abortion restrictions, and some support these requirements because of misperceptions about the safety of abortion. Advocates and policymakers should address these knowledge gaps in efforts to protect access to legal abortion.

Does information about abortion safety affect Texas voters' opinions about restrictive laws? A randomized study

“…There is a substantial gap between the scientific evidence demonstrating the safety of abortion in the US and public opinion about abortion safety [3–5]. In the present study, approximately half of registered Texas voters believed that the ASC and admitting privileges requirements would make abortion safer and a similar percentage supported these provisions.…”

“…Upon initiating the survey, participants reported their general view on the morality and legality of abortion. Following other studies [5,13], they indicated which statement about abortion came closest to their view: “I believe having an abortion is morally acceptable and should be legal;” “I am personally against abortion for myself, but I don’t believe government should prevent a woman from making that decision for herself;” or “I believe having an abortion is morally wrong and should be illegal.” They also could indicate that they held some other view. We then asked participants about whether they had heard of the ASC requirement that was recently passed in Texas, and, in a separate question, if they had heard of the hospital admitting privileges requirement.…”

“…Using a seven-point scale, participants indicated their party affiliation (from strong Democrat to strong Republican) and political ideology (from extremely liberal to extremely conservative). We averaged the values of the two variables to create a composite score, in which smaller values indicate the respondent is more conservative and a strong Republican and larger values indicating s/he is more liberal and identifies as a strong Democrat [5,17]. To facilitate interpretation, we created the following categories based on quintiles of the composite score: conservative Republican, somewhat conservative Republican, moderate or Independent, somewhat liberal Democrat, and liberal Democrat.…”

“…Such views likely undergird some of the public’s support for requirements like those included in HB 2. Among Texas women 18–49 years old who both knew about and supported provisions of HB 2 in a 2015 survey, the most common reason given was that they believed the provisions make abortion safer [5]. …”

Change over time in attitudes about abortion laws relative to recent restrictions in Texas

“…Catholics and evangelical Protestants are the religious groups most likely to be against abortion [19, 20], especially as Evangelicalism gained momentum in the mid-1990s [21]. Even if HAS respondents were unaware of the exact restrictions—as were most women in previous studies [22, 23]—they were nevertheless exposed to extensive media coverage of divisive public debate about abortion [16, 24]. …”