American adults might be split down the middle on the morality of abortion, but the country is pretty decided on how clinics should be operated.
A new survey released Tuesday by the pro-life group Americans United for Life found 70 percent of respondents to the YouGov poll either “strongly” or “somewhat” agree abortion facilities “should be held to the same medical standards as any ordinary hospital.”
Similarly, 75 percent of respondents believe abortionists “should be held to the same medical standards as any ordinary physician.” And 74 percent agree states should be free to pass “safeguards that ensure abortion facilities are in compliance with basic medical practices and sanitation.”
“This survey highlights that Americans, regardless of their personal views on abortion, stand with us in our fight to protect a woman’s right to health care and emergency medical attention,” AUL President Catherine Glenn Foster said in a statement. “Women deserve the same standard of care no matter who their doctor is. Continued efforts by elected officials and political institutions to limit protections and safeguards for women are out of step with core American values.”
The newly published survey also found 78 percent of Americans believe abortionists should be able to transfer patients who experience complications directly to nearby emergency rooms.
This study’s findings — which includes responses from 1,326 participants — come not long after the U.S. Supreme Court agreed to hear a case regarding a pro-life law in Louisiana. The Republican-backed bill would place greater restrictions on abortion facilities and doctors, requiring those who perform abortions to secure difficult-to-obtain “admitting privileges” at hospitals within 30 miles of their respective abortion clinics.
Louisiana passed the controversial law in 2014, but is has been tied up in the courts ever since, keeping it from being implemented. The high court struck down a similar law out of Texas in 2016, when former Justice Anthony Kennedy, who retired last year, joined the progressive justices to hand the pro-abortion community a victory.
Hope Medical Group for Women, which sued to have the Louisiana law blocked, presented an appeal to the Supreme Court. Kathaleen Pittman, who runs the abortion clinic, said she hopes the justices agree the pro-life bill places “an unconstitutional burden on our fundamental rights.”