Over half of Americans want Supreme Court to back abortion rights: poll

WASHINGTON (AA) – Well over half of all Americans want the Supreme Court to support federal abortion rights protections, according to a poll released on Wednesday.

The Morning Consult and Politico survey found 57% of Americans hope the top court supports abortion rights, compared to 28% who hope the court opposes them. Just 15% said they do not have an opinion or do not know about the matter.

Asked specifically about the landmark Roe v. Wade case, which made abortion legal across the US in 1973, 50% of Americans said the case should be upheld compared to 28% who said it should be overturned. Just over one-fifth did not have an opinion.

The poll comes after Politico published on Monday evening a draft majority opinion in which Justice Samuel Alito rules to overturn the case.

He is joined in the not yet final ruling by Justices Clarence Thomas, Neil Gorsuch, Brett Kavanaugh and Amy Coney Barrett, a person familiar with the court’s closed-door deliberations told Politico. Democratic appointed Justices Stephen Breyer, Sonia Sotomayor and Elena Kagan are in dissent.

It is not clear which way Roberts will vote, but even without his support the court’s conservative wing appears to have sufficient votes to overturn Roe in the nine-member bench.

An official decision is expected to be published before the court’s current term ends in late June or early July, and the draft could see significant revisions in the interim. Justices could also change their positions as the draft circulates.

Should Roe and Casey be overturned, the matter of abortion rights would fall to individual states to determine. That would almost certainly lead to their complete rollback across wide swathes of the Midwest and South.​​​​​​​