{"id":292868,"date":"2026-03-12T11:48:46","date_gmt":"2026-03-12T15:48:48","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/beta.pewresearch.org\/pewresearch-org\/?p=292868"},"modified":"2026-03-18T15:31:08","modified_gmt":"2026-03-18T19:31:08","slug":"do-abortion-attitudes-differ-by-gender","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/beta.pewresearch.org\/pewresearch-org\/politics\/2026\/03\/12\/do-abortion-attitudes-differ-by-gender\/","title":{"rendered":"Do abortion attitudes differ by gender?"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Though partisanship remains a far bigger factor than gender in U.S. abortion attitudes, the opinions of men and women have diverged somewhat in recent years \u2013 particularly on the question of legality. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image alignright size-310-wide\"><a href=\"https:\/\/beta.pewresearch.org\/pewresearch-org\/?attachment_id=292979\"><img data-dominant-color=\"f4f3f2\" data-has-transparency=\"false\" style=\"--dominant-color: #f4f3f2;\" loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\"  srcset=\"https:\/\/beta.pewresearch.org\/pewresearch-org\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/20\/2026\/03\/PP_2026.3.12_abortion_2-01.png?resize=480,904 480w, https:\/\/beta.pewresearch.org\/pewresearch-org\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/20\/2026\/03\/PP_2026.3.12_abortion_2-01.png?resize=620,1168 620w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 480px) 480px, (max-width: 782px) 782px, 640px\" height=\"584\" width=\"310\" src=\"https:\/\/beta.pewresearch.org\/pewresearch-org\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/20\/2026\/03\/PP_2026.3.12_abortion_2-01.png?w=310\" alt=\"Chart shows While partisan differences dominate, a\ngender gap emerges on abortion\" class=\"wp-image-292979 not-transparent\" \/><\/a><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>Today, nearly two-thirds of women (64%) say abortion should be legal in all or most cases, while 34% say it should be illegal in all or most cases.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>By contrast, 55% of men say abortion should be legal, and 44% say it should be illegal.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The 9-point gender gap in the shares expressing support for legal abortion is as wide as we\u2019ve seen in the last two decades. Over much of that time, there were no significant gender differences on this question.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">This largely reflects the emergence of a gap between Republican and Republican-leaning men and women.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h5 id=\"among-republicans\" class=\"wp-block-heading\">Among Republicans<\/h5>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Majorities of Republican men and women continue to say abortion should be illegal in all or most cases, but those majorities differ in size: Two-thirds of Republican men say this, compared with 58% of Republican women.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h5 id=\"among-democrats\" class=\"wp-block-heading\">Among Democrats<\/h5>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">By contrast, similar overwhelming majorities of both women (85%) and men (83%) who identify as Democrats or Democratic leanerssay abortion should be legal in all or most cases.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h3 data-is-section=\"true\" data-wp-context=\"{&quot;id&quot;:&quot;other-abortion-attitudes&quot;}\" data-wp-interactive=\"{&quot;namespace&quot;:&quot;prc-block\\\/table-of-contents&quot;}\" id=\"other-abortion-attitudes\" class=\"wp-block-heading\">Other abortion attitudes<\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">There is also a sizable gender gap on the statement, \u201cThe decision about whether to have an abortion should belong solely to the pregnant woman.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>Nearly six-in-ten women (58%) say this describes their views extremely or very well. Fewer men (45%) say the same.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Republican women (38%) are more likely than Republican men (25%) to say this statement describes their views extremely or very well. There is no significant gap between Democratic women (74%) and men (70%).<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image alignright size-420-wide\"><a href=\"https:\/\/beta.pewresearch.org\/pewresearch-org\/?attachment_id=292980\"><img data-dominant-color=\"e5e1d9\" data-has-transparency=\"false\" style=\"--dominant-color: #e5e1d9;\" loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\"  srcset=\"https:\/\/beta.pewresearch.org\/pewresearch-org\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/20\/2026\/03\/PP_2026.3.12_abortion_2-02.png?resize=480,505 480w, https:\/\/beta.pewresearch.org\/pewresearch-org\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/20\/2026\/03\/PP_2026.3.12_abortion_2-02.png?resize=782,823 782w, https:\/\/beta.pewresearch.org\/pewresearch-org\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/20\/2026\/03\/PP_2026.3.12_abortion_2-02.png?resize=840,884 840w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 480px) 480px, (max-width: 782px) 782px, 640px\" height=\"442\" width=\"420\" src=\"https:\/\/beta.pewresearch.org\/pewresearch-org\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/20\/2026\/03\/PP_2026.3.12_abortion_2-02.png?w=420\" alt=\"Chart shows Women are more likely than men to say pregnant women should be the sole deciders of whether to have an abortion\" class=\"wp-image-292980 not-transparent\" \/><\/a><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">There is not a meaningful gender difference on the statement, \u201cHuman life begins at conception, so an embryo is a person with rights.\u201d Roughly four-in-ten men and women overall say this statement describes their views extremely or very well.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Men and women do hold somewhat different attitudes on accessibility of abortion and the legality of medication abortion.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h4 id=\"accessibility-of-abortion\" class=\"wp-block-heading\">Accessibility of abortion<\/h4>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Men are more likely than women to say abortion should be harder to obtain in the area they live in (32% vs. 22%), while women are more likely to say it should be easier (34% vs. 28%). Roughly equal shares of each \u2013 about four-in-ten \u2013 say the process should be about what it is now.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h4 id=\"medication-abortion\" class=\"wp-block-heading\">Medication abortion<\/h4>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">By wide margins, both men and women say medication abortion should be legal in their state rather than illegal. But women (57% legal vs. 24% illegal) are somewhat more likely to say this than men (52% vs. 29%). <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">For more on views of medication abortion, read \u201c<a href=\"https:\/\/beta.pewresearch.org\/pewresearch-org\/politics\/2026\/03\/12\/majority-of-americans-say-medication-abortion-should-be-legal\/\">Majority of Americans say medication abortion should be legal<\/a>.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>While partisan differences on abortion dominate, a gender gap has emerged among Repuublican men and women.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":581,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"sub_headline":"","sub_title":"","_prc_public_revisions":[],"_ppp_expiration_hours":0,"_ppp_enabled":false,"ai_generated_summary":"","_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"apple_news_api_id":"","apple_news_api_revision":"","apple_news_api_created_at":"","apple_news_api_modified_at":"","apple_news_api_share_url":"","apple_news_api_pending":"","apple_news_is_preview":false,"apple_news_is_hidden":false,"relatedPosts":[],"reportMaterials":[],"multiSectionReport":[],"package_parts__enabled":false,"package_parts":[],"datacite_doi":"","datacite_doi_citation":"","_prc_seo_qr_attachment_id":0,"spoken_article_player_enabled":true,"displayBylines":true,"footnotes":"","prc_watchers":[],"_prc_fork_parent":0,"_prc_fork_status":"","_prc_active_fork":0,"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[94,417,38],"tags":[],"bylines":[608,571,838],"collection":[],"datasets":[],"level_of_effort":[],"primary_audience":[],"information_type":[],"_post_visibility":[],"formats":[458],"_fund_pool":[],"languages":[],"regions-countries":[],"research-teams":[520],"workflow-status":[],"class_list":["post-292868","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-abortion","category-partisanship-issues","category-political-issues","bylines-andy-cerda","bylines-asta-kallo","bylines-hannah-hartig","formats-report","research-teams-politics"],"label":false,"post_parent":292865,"word_count":428,"canonical_url":"https:\/\/beta.pewresearch.org\/pewresearch-org\/politics\/2026\/03\/12\/do-abortion-attitudes-differ-by-gender\/","art_direction":{"A1":{"id":293588,"rawUrl":"https:\/\/beta.pewresearch.org\/pewresearch-org\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/20\/2026\/03\/SR_26.02.26_abortion_featured_A1.png","url":"https:\/\/beta.pewresearch.org\/pewresearch-org\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/20\/2026\/03\/SR_26.02.26_abortion_featured_A1.png?w=564&h=317&crop=1","width":564,"height":317,"chartArt":false,"caption":""},"A2":{"id":293587,"rawUrl":"https:\/\/beta.pewresearch.org\/pewresearch-org\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/20\/2026\/03\/SR_26.02.26_abortion_featured_crop.png","url":"https:\/\/beta.pewresearch.org\/pewresearch-org\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/20\/2026\/03\/SR_26.02.26_abortion_featured_crop.png?w=268&h=151&crop=1","width":268,"height":151,"chartArt":true,"caption":""},"A3":{"id":293587,"rawUrl":"https:\/\/beta.pewresearch.org\/pewresearch-org\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/20\/2026\/03\/SR_26.02.26_abortion_featured_crop.png","url":"https:\/\/beta.pewresearch.org\/pewresearch-org\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/20\/2026\/03\/SR_26.02.26_abortion_featured_crop.png?w=194&h=110&crop=1","width":194,"height":110,"chartArt":true,"caption":""},"A4":{"id":293587,"rawUrl":"https:\/\/beta.pewresearch.org\/pewresearch-org\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/20\/2026\/03\/SR_26.02.26_abortion_featured_crop.png","url":"https:\/\/beta.pewresearch.org\/pewresearch-org\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/20\/2026\/03\/SR_26.02.26_abortion_featured_crop.png?w=268&h=151&crop=1","width":268,"height":151,"chartArt":true,"caption":""},"XL":{"id":293588,"rawUrl":"https:\/\/beta.pewresearch.org\/pewresearch-org\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/20\/2026\/03\/SR_26.02.26_abortion_featured_A1.png","url":"https:\/\/beta.pewresearch.org\/pewresearch-org\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/20\/2026\/03\/SR_26.02.26_abortion_featured_A1.png?w=720&h=405&crop=1","width":720,"height":405,"chartArt":false,"caption":""},"social":{"id":293589,"rawUrl":"https:\/\/beta.pewresearch.org\/pewresearch-org\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/20\/2026\/03\/SR_26.02.26_abortion_featured_featured.png","url":"https:\/\/beta.pewresearch.org\/pewresearch-org\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/20\/2026\/03\/SR_26.02.26_abortion_featured_featured.png?w=1200&h=628&crop=1","width":1200,"height":628,"chartArt":false,"caption":""}},"_embeds":[],"watchers":[],"table_of_contents":[{"id":292865,"title":"Majority of Americans Continue To Say Abortion Should Be Legal in All or Most Cases","slug":"majority-of-americans-continue-to-say-abortion-should-be-legal-in-all-or-most-cases","link":"https:\/\/beta.pewresearch.org\/pewresearch-org\/politics\/2026\/03\/12\/majority-of-americans-continue-to-say-abortion-should-be-legal-in-all-or-most-cases\/","is_active":false},{"id":292866,"title":"Majority of Americans say medication abortion should be legal","slug":"majority-of-americans-say-medication-abortion-should-be-legal","link":"https:\/\/beta.pewresearch.org\/pewresearch-org\/politics\/2026\/03\/12\/majority-of-americans-say-medication-abortion-should-be-legal\/","is_active":false},{"id":292868,"title":"Do abortion attitudes differ by gender?","slug":"do-abortion-attitudes-differ-by-gender","link":"https:\/\/beta.pewresearch.org\/pewresearch-org\/politics\/2026\/03\/12\/do-abortion-attitudes-differ-by-gender\/","is_active":true},{"id":292870,"title":"Appendix: Categorizing state abortion laws","slug":"appendix-categorizing-state-abortion-laws","link":"https:\/\/beta.pewresearch.org\/pewresearch-org\/politics\/2026\/03\/12\/appendix-categorizing-state-abortion-laws\/","is_active":false},{"id":292872,"title":"Acknowledgments","slug":"acknowledgments-84","link":"https:\/\/beta.pewresearch.org\/pewresearch-org\/politics\/2026\/03\/12\/acknowledgments-84\/","is_active":false},{"id":292874,"title":"Methodology","slug":"abortion-2026-methodology","link":"https:\/\/beta.pewresearch.org\/pewresearch-org\/politics\/2026\/03\/12\/abortion-2026-methodology\/","is_active":false}],"report_materials":[{"key":"_th2wprpr2","type":"questionnaire","url":"https:\/\/beta.pewresearch.org\/pewresearch-org\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/20\/2026\/03\/PP_3.12.2026_abortion_questionnaire.pdf","label":"Questionnaire","attachmentId":292918},{"key":"_lwx3z0lxw","type":"topline","url":"https:\/\/beta.pewresearch.org\/pewresearch-org\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/20\/2026\/03\/PP_3.12.2026_abortion_topline.pdf","label":"Topline","attachmentId":292919},{"key":"_wszgbgzbj","type":"report","url":"https:\/\/beta.pewresearch.org\/pewresearch-org\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/20\/2026\/03\/PP_2026.3.12_abortion_report.pdf","label":"Report 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