CHICAGO — It’s legal to get an abortion in America, but in many places it is hard and getting harder.
Just this year, 17 states set new limits on abortion; 24 did last year, according to the Guttmacher Institute, a pro-abortion rights nonprofit whose numbers are widely respected. In several states with the most restrictive laws, the number of abortions has fallen slightly, pleasing abortion opponents who say the laws are working.
In South Dakota, which has just one abortion clinic, lawmakers want to extend the required waiting period from two days to three for women seeking to end a pregnancy. Next door in North Dakota, there’s only one clinic. The same is true in Mississippi, where a new law threatens that lone clinic’s existence.
There are hurdles even in states like Illinois, where abortion laws are more lenient and clinics relatively plentiful.
Patients arriving for abortions at a Granite City, Ill., clinic can expect to find their photographs on an anti-abortion activist’s website. And before her abortion in June, a Chicago woman says her own gynecologist refused to offer any advice, fearing that just mentioning abortion could endanger her job at a Catholic hospital.
“The level and scope of activity on abortion and family planning is completely unparalleled to anything we have seen before,” said Elizabeth Nash, Guttmacher’s states issues manager.
While surveys have consistently shown most Americans support keeping abortion legal in certain circumstances, many people’s views are nuanced. A Gallup poll last month found nearly as many voters consider themselves “pro-life” as those who say they are “pro-choice.”
And a Gallup poll released Wednesday found that nearly 40 percent of female registered voters surveyed in 12 swing states consider abortion the most important election issue for women — even outranking jobs.
President Barack Obama supports access to abortion. GOP challenger Mitt Romney says Roe vs. Wade, the 1973 decision legalizing abortion, should be overturned, which would allow states to ban abortion.
Who gets an abortion
Nearly 1 million women get abortions every year. Most say they made that choice because they couldn’t afford a baby or having one would interfere with a job, caring for existing children or other responsibilities.
• More than half — 54 percent — say they were using birth control around the time they got pregnant.
• Most are unmarried, in their 20s and 30s; 18 percent are teens.
• More than half are poor.
• Three-fourths identify with a religion, mostly Protestant; more than 1 in 4 are Catholic.
• Nearly 60 percent have at least one child.
• More than one-third are white, 30 percent are black and 25 percent are Hispanic.
Source: Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and Guttmacher Institute.
The Associated Press
