Did the Dobbs v. Jackson Decision Influence People’s Attitudes Toward Abortion Legality Across Abortion Circumstances and Weeks’ Gestation?

Abstract Introduction We examined the impact of the 2022 Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization decision on changes in people’s attitudes toward endorsement of legal abortion across abortion circumstances (e.g., woman’s health endangerment , low income , rape , unprepared to parent ) and weeks’ gestation (i.e., never, 6 weeks, 15 weeks, 22 weeks, always). Methods Longitudinal data were collected from a nationally representative sample of English and Spanish-speaking US adults via Ipsos’ KnowledgePanel® (Wave 1 in June 2022 ( N = 1014) and Wave 2 in October 2022 ( N = 792)). We explored descriptive changes in attitudes toward endorsement of legal abortion across circumstances and weeks’ gestation. Then, using multinomial logistic regression models, we identified significant predictors of change toward greater endorsement or lower endorsement of legal abortion. Results Our findings generally indicate remarkable stability in attitudes toward endorsement of legal abortion before and after the decision. Demographic, ideological, and geographic factors, such as age, race, region, urbanity/rurality, religiosity, and abortion identity, were associated with marginal or significant changes. We find that the decision might have had an impact on attitudinal changes of specific subgroups, particularly those in the ideologically “middle” (i.e., equally both pro-choice and pro-life ; Independent) and those who seem “indifferent” (i.e., neither pro-choice nor pro-life ; Something Else). Conclusions Our findings suggest that while the Dobbs v. Jackson decision may have minimally impacted overall public opinion, shifts in abortion attitudes occurred among certain demographic, ideological, and geographic subgroups. Policy Implications More nuanced approaches to account for diverse and complex abortion attitudes must be considered to align legal frameworks with public opinion.