A new Deseret News/Hinckley Institute of Politics poll shows 46% of Utahns say abortion should only be legal in cases of rape, incest or threats to the health of the mother.
Forty-two percent of the 802 Utah registered voters polled Jan. 23-30 said the states should determine abortion laws, although nearly one-third of the people polled said the government should not determine laws regarding abortion. Just 26% said it should be purview of the federal government, according to the poll results.
The poll reflects support for the limits established in Utah’s trigger ban law passed by the Utah Legislature in 2020, which prohibits most abortions.
SB174 allows abortions only if the mother’s life is at risk, if the pregnancy was a result of rape or incest, or if two physicians who practice “maternal fetal medicine” both determine that the fetus “has a defect that is uniformly diagnosable and uniformly lethal or ... has a severe brain abnormality that is uniformly diagnosable.”
The constitutionality of Utah’s “trigger ban” law has been challenged in state court by the Planned Parenthood Association of Utah and is currently enjoined from enforcement after the Utah Supreme Court said it would let a lower court’s injunction remain in place.
Existing state law bans abortions after 18 weeks of pregnancy.
Gayle Ruzicka, president of the Utah Eagle Forum, said while some issues “have just gotten so liberalized” over the years, not so for abortion in Utah.
“We’re definitely a pro-life state,” she said.
“The majority of the people don’t support abortion. They support the exceptions but they don’t support abortion itself,” Ruzicka said.
Karrie Galloway, president and CEO of Planned Parenthood Association of Utah, said the new poll results suggest some Utahns have softened their positions since a Deseret News/Hinckley Institute of Politics poll conducted in May 2022, which was prior to the Supreme Court’s ruling in Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization. The ruling overturned Roe v. Wade, ending the federal constitutional right to abortion in the United States.
The latest poll results reflect slightly more support for legal abortion in all cases, those up to viability and those in the first trimester of a pregnancy. The percentage of Utahns who said abortion should be illegal in all cases dropped from 10% to 7% since the last survey.
“When we compare this poll to a similar poll from last year, we see the numbers are moving in a permissive direction. We shouldn’t be making more laws that restrict options for all pregnancies, and especially those facing complications, without serious study or discussion with the medical community that cares for them. There is no need to rush when the issue is still in the courts,” Galloway said.
State lawmakers have requested legislative attorneys draft nine bills and one constitutional amendment regarding abortion, although the proposed constitutional amendment appears to have been abandoned. None of the remaining bills have yet to be assigned to committees for hearings. Four of the bills have yet to be released to the public.
The poll by Dan Jones & Associates reflected a higher percentage of Utahns who said the state government should determine laws regarding abortion than in May. The survey has a margin of error of plus or minus 3.46 percentage points.
Ruzicka said it was not surprising that on the whole that more people preferred the state creating policy than leaving it to the federal government because the Supreme Court’s ruling returned the issue to the states.
“Most people don’t like federal overreach,” she said.
Men and women in Utah had similar attitudes about abortion, the survey found. The biggest difference came in that more women say abortion should be legal up to viability of the fetus or 23 weeks of pregnancy.
The poll also showed that among those who self-identified as Democrats, 46% say abortion should be legal in all cases, compared to only 8% of Republicans.
Clear lines also emerged based on party affiliation when it comes to which level of government should decide abortion law. The survey found 60% of Republicans say it should be state government, while 40% of Democrats say it should be the federal government. But more than half of Democrats say government should not determine laws regarding abortion.
Among the poll’s youngest respondents, those ages 18 to 24, 46% said the government should not determine laws regarding abortion. Also, more than a third in that age group say abortion should be legal in all cases.
Among people who identified as “very active” members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, 65% said they preferred that state government develop abortion policy while 72% supported the exemptions in SB172.
The exemptions largely mirror The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints’ official statement on abortion:
“The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints allows for possible exceptions for its members when:
- Pregnancy results from rape or incest, or
- A competent physician determines that the life or health of the mother is in serious jeopardy, or
- A competent physician determines that the fetus has severe defects that will not allow the baby to survive beyond birth.
“Even these exceptions do not automatically justify abortion. Abortion is a most serious matter. It should be considered only after the persons responsible have received confirmation through prayer. Members may counsel with their bishops as part of this process,” the statement concludes.