More Republicans push for abortion bans without rape, incest exceptions

Though the nation remains divided on abortion policy — with most voters agreeing to some limitations while also opposing outright bans — there is overwhelming support for allowing abortions in cases of rape or threats to the life of the mother. A March Pew Research Center poll found that 73 percent of Americans, including 62 percent of likely Republican voters, supported legal abortion when the mother’s life was threatened. Sixty-nine percent of Americans, including 56 percent of likely Republican voters, said abortion should be legal when the pregnancy resulted from rape.

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Among many leading antiabortion groups, by contrast, there’s general agreement around banning abortion in the cases of rape and incest, but including exceptions for threats to the life of the mother. Some major groups, however, say they have supported legislation in states that choose to allow abortions in the case of rape and incest to garner enough political favor to pass new restrictions.

Abortion restrictions have gone into effect in roughly a dozen states since the court ruling, all of which include an exception for life of the mother. Most do not include an exception for rape or incest, with the exception of South Carolina — which includes exemptions for both — and Mississippi’s trigger law that has an exception for rape, according to The Guttmacher Institute, a research group that supports abortion rights.

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