Raleigh, N.C. – Fifty-six percent of North Carolina voters support proposed legislation requiring more information be provided to women before an abortion is performed, according to a new poll released by the Civitas Institute.
The proposed legislation would require that a woman seeking an abortion first consult with a doctor who would then provide an ultrasound image of the fetus. The doctor would provide the woman with information on alternatives to abortion in addition to requiring a 24-hour waiting period before the abortion can be performed. After being told this, 56 percent of voters said they support this legislation, 36 percent oppose it, and 7 percent said they do not know or have no opinion.
Republican voters overwhelmingly support the proposed legislation (72 percent support – 22 percent oppose). In addition, over half of unaffiliated voters are in favor of the bill (55 percent support – 38 percent oppose), while Democratic voters are evenly split by a 45 percent – 45 percent margin.
“Voters think this is a common sense piece of legislation that informs women, gives them all available options and allows them time to consider this information,” said Civitas Institute President Francis De Luca.
Currently North Carolina is one of 16 states that do not require a waiting period or abortion counseling. House Bill 854, “Abortion–Woman’s Right to Know Act,” is currently in the House Appropriations Subcommittee on Health and Human Services.
The Civitas Poll is the only regular live-caller poll of critical issues facing North Carolina. For more information on Civitas polling see http://www.nccivitas.org/category/poll/.
Full Text of Question:
“There is proposed legislation that would require that a woman seeking an abortion must first consult with a doctor who would then provide an ultrasound image of the fetus and then provide the woman with information on alternatives to abortion. After this, the legislation would require a 24-hour waiting period before the abortion can be performed. Do you support or oppose this proposed legislation?”
Total Support – 56%
Total Oppose – 36%
Strongly Support – 42%
Somewhat Support – 14%
Somewhat Oppose – 8%
Strongly Oppose – 28%
Don’t Know/No Opinion – 7%
Refused – 1%
Click here for full results and crosstabs.
This poll of 600 registered general election voters in North Carolina was conducted May 10-11, 2011 by National Research, Inc. of Holmdel, NJ. All respondents were part of a fully representative sample of registered voters in North Carolina. For purposes of this study, voters interviewed had to have voted in two of the past four general elections or were newly registered to vote since 2008.
The confidence interval associated with a sample of this size is such that: 95 percent of the time, results from 600 interviews (registered voters) will be within +-4% of the “True Values.” True Values refer to the results obtained if it were possible to interview every person in North Carolina who had voted in two of the past four general elections or were newly registered to vote since 2008.
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