Survey: More than 8 in 10 Texas women have inaccurate knowledge of abortion ban exceptions
Texas women of reproductive age have significant gaps in knowledge regarding the state's near-total abortion ban — which prohibits terminating pregnancies unless the life of the mother is in danger — with more than 8 in 10 lacking an accurate understanding of what medical exceptions are allowed under the law, according to recently released results of a survey by Austin-based collaborative Resound Research for Reproductive Health.
One-third of the 763 respondents in the poll, or 32%, incorrectly believed that victims of rape and incest can legally get an abortion in Texas. Nearly 25% falsely believed that the abortion ban does not apply to pregnant patients facing fatal fetal diagnoses.
Furthermore, 73% of the survey respondents were unaware that clinics in the state cannot terminate pregnancies, according to the survey results released March 21. And a minority of respondents, or 43%, said they knew it was legal in Texas for pregnant people to get an abortion if they have a life-threatening medical condition.
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“Our research shows that many Texans think abortion care is still legally available under a broader set of circumstances than it currently is,” Dr. Samuel Dickman, a researcher at the City University of New York’s Research Foundation and the chief medical officer at Planned Parenthood of Montana, said in a news release.
Resound, which studies the effects of policy related to contraception, abortion and pregnancy, administered the poll in English and Spanish between May and June 2023 through the Ipsos KnowledgePanel. The survey included only Texas residents between the ages of 18 and 49 who were assigned female at birth.
Since August 2022, when the state's "trigger law" went into effect after the U.S. Supreme Court reversed the constitutional right to an abortion, the procedure has been prohibited in Texas except in cases in which a pregnancy puts a woman at risk of death or "poses a serious risk of substantial impairment of a major bodily function." Physicians who violate the law could face penalties of up to 99 years in prison and fines of more than $100,000 and could lose their medical license.
Beginning in September 2021, one of the country's most restrictive abortion bans went into effect in Texas, banning the procedure after fetal cardiac activity could be detected, or about six week of pregnancy. This law, like the state's "trigger law," makes no exceptions for rape, incest or fatal fetal diagnoses. Both were passed by the majority-Republican Legislature and signed into law by Republican Gov. Greg Abbott in 2021.
When Resound conducted its survey in Texas, a near-total abortion ban had been in effect for more than a year. Forty percent of respondents, however, said they had not heard about Texas passing abortion laws in the two years prior.
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In addition, 24% of survey respondents incorrectly believed that Texas had prohibited travel outside of Texas to obtain an abortion. (Some localities such as Lubbock County and Odessa have passed ordinances to this effect, but legal experts doubt they will hold up in court, and there is no statewide ban on out-of-state travel for abortions, the Houston Chronicle has reported).
The survey adds context to a February 2024 University of Texas poll that found the overwhelming majority of Texas voters support legal abortion access for pregnant women in cases of rape, incest or serious risk of birth defects, said Resound Research Director Kari White, an associate professor of social work at UT.
"Disseminating clear information about the specific restrictions imposed by Texas’ abortion laws and their impacts may make Texans even less supportive of policies that restrict abortion access," White said.
This article originally appeared on Austin American-Statesman: Survey: More than 80% of Texas women unclear on abortion ban exceptions
