From NARAL Pro-Choice Virginia:
New PPP Poll Shows Overwhelming Majority of Virginians Support Legal Access to Abortion, As Pro-Choice Legislators Begin Efforts to Roll Back Barriers to Abortion Care
Poll Shows Growing Majority of Virginians Oppose Politicians Influencing Reproductive Healthcare Decisions
Richmond, Virginia — A new Public Policy Polling survey, commissioned by the Virginia Pro-Choice Coalition and funded by NARAL Pro-Choice Virginia, has found that an overwhelming majority of Virginians support legal access to abortion. The poll comes as pro-choice legislators in Virginia move to roll back medically unnecessary barriers to abortion care put in place by anti-abortion politicians over the past two decades.
Specifically, the poll found that:
- 79% of Virginia voters support legal access to abortion, and believe that the government should not prevent a woman from making her own healthcare decisions, while only 19% believe abortion should be illegal.
1. Those who believe abortion should be legal include a majority of voters across party lines, including, 79% of Independents, and 55% of Republicans.
- Of those who believe that abortion should be legal, 40% personally support a woman’s right to abortion and believe it should be legal and available, while another 32% believe the government should not prevent a woman from making that decision for herself.
- 60% of Virginia voters support allowing trained nurse practioners, advanced practice nurses, and physicians assistants to provide abortion care in early pregnancy in order to reduce barriers for Virginians seeking abortion care and to expand access to counties with no existing health care center that provides abortion.
- 59% of Virginia voters oppose laws that mandate women must undergo a medically unnecessary ultrasound prior to an abortion.
- 87% of Virginia voters say that women seeking abortion care should be able to receive full and unbiased information from their doctor about their options, and 69% of voters said they oppose politicians forcing doctors to read state-mandated scripts that conflict with their medical training or professional judgment.
- 82% of Virginia voters said that the decision to end a pregnancy should be made by the woman with the support of those she loves and trusts.
VIEW THE FULL POLL HERE: https://virginia.
“In 2019, Virginia voters made their values clear, by flipping both the state Senate and the House of Delegates to a pro-choice majority for the first time in history, and sending champions for reproductive freedom to Richmond,” said Tarina Keene, executive director of NARAL Pro-Choice Virginia. “The decision about whether and when to become a parent is one of the most important life decisions. When people can make decisions that are best for their lives, Virginian families and communities thrive . This poll shows that there is wide support to remove barriers to abortion access and that voters want to see legislators take action to make that happen.”
“Virginians believe that abortion access is necessary,” said Amy Hagstrom Miller, President and CEO of Whole Woman’s Health and Whole Woman’s Health Alliance. “The results of this poll should not be ignored by our politicians. Safe abortion care is integral to the health of our community and people seeking abortion services deserve our respect, our compassion, and access to excellent medical care.”
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