At a time when Texas is poised to outlaw the vast majority of abortions if the nation鈥檚 highest court overturns constitutional protections for the procedure, most Texan voters think access to abortion should be allowed in some form.
Texas would make performing most abortions a felony if the U.S. Supreme Court overturns Roe v. Wade 鈥� a future that looks considerably more likely after was leaked from the high court Monday. Constitutional protections for abortion could be struck down as soon as this summer.
The university conducted the poll in April before the court鈥檚 document was leaked. The survey found that 78% of respondents believe abortion should be allowed in some form while only 15% said it should be never permitted.
If Roe is overturned, Texas would allow doctors to perform abortions only to save the life of a pregnant person or if that person risked 鈥渟ubstantial impairment of major bodily function.鈥�
Around 39% of poll respondents said Texans should always be able to obtain abortions as a matter of personal choice, and 11% of respondents thought abortions should be available for other reasons in addition to pregnancy resulting from rape.
The poll shows that 28% of respondents believe abortions should be available only in cases of rape or incest or when a person鈥檚 life is endangered by their pregnancy. And 7% said they didn鈥檛 know.
Respondents fell mostly along party lines. Of the Republicans surveyed, 42% said abortions should be allowed only in cases of rape, incest or when a person鈥檚 life is in danger. The majority of Democrat respondents 鈥� 67% 鈥� said Texans should be allowed to seek an abortion as a personal choice.
But there were outliers. Among Republicans, 15% said Texans should always be allowed to seek an abortion and 12% said the law should allow Texans to seek abortions for reasons outside of just rape. On the flip side, 5% of Democrats said abortion should be completely outlawed and 13% said it should be allowed only in cases of rape or incest.
Texas is with so-called trigger laws that would automatically go into effect to ban abortions if Roe is overturned.
Texans have experienced a preview of a for the last eight months. The state has been , which bans abortions after about six weeks of pregnancy, since September. The ban is able to skirt protections on abortion access by relying on private lawsuits for enforcement rather than on state officials. Critics say the law creates 鈥渂ounty hunters鈥� because it allows anyone to file a lawsuit and seek damages of at least $10,000 鈥� even if they lack a connection to the person seeking an abortion. Abortion rights advocates have unsuccessfully challenged the ban in both state and federal courts.
But now, much of Texas鈥� controversial abortion law could be rendered moot as the impending Supreme Court ruling puts the right to a legal abortion in jeopardy.
鈥淔or months, Texans have had to navigate a six-week abortion ban and bounty law that has upended access to essential care,鈥� Ana Ram贸n, interim executive director of the progressive political action committee Annie鈥檚 List, said in a statement. 鈥淸The Supreme Court鈥檚] draft majority opinion confirms what we鈥檝e anticipated all along: the end of our guaranteed right to abortion is imminent.鈥�