Name: Iowa Poll: Less than a third of Iowans support anti-abortion constitutional amendment
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Iowa Poll: Less than a third of Iowans support anti-abortion constitutional amendment

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Des Moines RegisterView Comments© Copyright 2021, Des Moines Register and Tribune Co.Fewer than one-third of Iowans now support&nbsp;the&nbsp;Legislature’s push for an amendment that says&nbsp;the state constitution&nbsp;does not&nbsp;secure a right to abortion, according to a&nbsp;new Des Moines Register/Mediacom Iowa Poll.&nbsp;&nbsp;Support for the proposal has dipped slightly from &nbsp;to 31% this year, the poll found. Opposition has also risen, with 58% of Iowans now saying they’re&nbsp;opposed, up from 54% a year ago.&nbsp;The remaining 11% of respondents are not sure.&nbsp;&nbsp;The Republican-controlled Iowa Legislature is working this year to approve the amendment. It would change what abortion opponents say is an overreach by the Iowa Supreme Court&nbsp;in a 2018 decision that found there is a fundamental right to abortion in the Iowa Constitution. Those who support a legal right to abortion oppose the amendment, saying it could lead to extreme abortion restrictions.&nbsp;To be presented to voters, both&nbsp;chambers of the Legislature must pass the same wording before the end of the 2022 session, then must do so a second time by the end of the 2024 session. If the amendment clears both of those hurdles, it will go on Iowans’ ballots&nbsp;in November 2024.&nbsp;Among those polled, more than half of Iowa Republicans, 55%,&nbsp;say they support the proposed amendment, while 36% oppose it.&nbsp;But only 9% of Democrats&nbsp;support the amendment, with 82% opposed. Among political independents, 30%&nbsp;favor the amendment,&nbsp;and 57% are&nbsp;opposed.&nbsp;&nbsp;Selzer &amp; Co. conducted the poll of 775 Iowa&nbsp;adults&nbsp;March 7-10. It has a margin of error of plus or minus 3.5 percentage points.&nbsp;Results based on smaller samples of respondents — such as by party or religion — have a larger margin of error.&nbsp;Poll respondent Holly Schlotterback, an 82-year-old Indianola resident who identifies as a Democrat, said she doesn’t believe that “those old, fat people in Washington” —&nbsp;nor Iowa’s state politicians —&nbsp;should&nbsp;interfere with a woman’s decision&nbsp;to have an abortion.&nbsp;&nbsp;“It's nobody’s business what a woman does with her body,” she said. “It’s nobody else’s decision. Abortion should be legal.”A majority of both Protestants, 51%, and Catholics, 52%,&nbsp;say they&nbsp;oppose&nbsp;the amendment, as well as&nbsp;81%&nbsp;of those not identifying with a religion.&nbsp;But evangelicals support the amendment, with 53% in favor and 36% opposed. The only subgroups identified by the poll with majority support are evangelicals, Republicans and Iowans who voted to reelect&nbsp;President Donald Trump.Poll participant Richard Norem, a 76-year-old retired high school science teacher who lives in Marion, said he supports the amendment and opposes most abortions because of his religious beliefs. He said he is an evangelical Christian who attends a nondenominational church.&nbsp;Norem identifies as&nbsp;a political independent and said he voted for President Trump in 2020.“(I) strongly support&nbsp;anything which opposes abortion because I feel very strongly about abortion not following biblical principles,” he said.The&nbsp;constitutional&nbsp;amendment&nbsp;passed the Senate&nbsp;last year&nbsp;but&nbsp;did not make it to a floor vote in the House.&nbsp;This year, the&nbsp;proposed&nbsp;amendment&nbsp;has&nbsp;&nbsp;and&nbsp;awaits a floor vote in the Senate.&nbsp;&nbsp;The proposed amendment says, “To defend and protect unborn children, we the people of the state of Iowa declare that this Constitution does not recognize, grant or secure a right to abortion or require the public funding of abortion.”&nbsp;Iowa Republicans&nbsp;have&nbsp;suffered multiple defeats in the courts over their attempts&nbsp;in recent years&nbsp;to&nbsp;pass restrictions on abortion, such as&nbsp;a &nbsp;and . Last year, the&nbsp;Legislature&nbsp;passed a 24-hour waiting period&nbsp;law.&nbsp;Lori Bees, a 60-year-old poll respondent who lives in Waukee and identifies as a Democrat, said she believes&nbsp;the Legislature&nbsp;has spent too much time&nbsp;attempting to alter abortion rights and not enough time working on policies that would benefit mothers and their children.&nbsp;&nbsp;“As long as the baby’s inside a woman,&nbsp;then they are all for protecting it, but once that baby is here, they do everything they can to limit any assistance that a single mother would have to help with raising the child&nbsp;—&nbsp;so in a way that’s kind of hypocritical," she said.&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;Ian Richardson covers the Iowa Statehouse for the Des Moines Register. Reach him at&nbsp;, at 515-284-8254, or on Twitter at&nbsp;.View Comments

Des Moines RegisterView Comments© Copyright 2021, Des Moines Register and Tribune Co.Fewer than one-third of Iowans now support&nbsp;the&nbsp;Legislature’s push for an amendment that says&nbsp;the state constitution&nbsp;does not&nbsp;secure a right to abortion, according to a&nbsp;new Des Moines Register/Mediacom Iowa Poll.&nbsp;&nbsp;Support for the proposal has dipped slightly from &nbsp;to 31% this year, the poll found. Opposition has also risen, with 58% of Iowans now saying they’re&nbsp;opposed, up from 54% a year ago.&nbsp;The remaining 11% of respondents are not sure.&nbsp;&nbsp;The...

Iowa Poll: Less than a third of Iowans support anti-abortion constitutional amendment

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