Poll shows most Americans support legal limits to abortion

By Tate Miller
The Center Square

Pro-life groups celebrate the 53rd annual March for Life event in the wake of a Knights of Columbus-Marist Poll showing that most Americans support legal limits on abortion.

Director of the Marist Poll Dr. Barbara L. Carvalho told The Center Square: “Despite the publicly heated debates about abortion, there remains a consensus of opinion on this issue among Americans.”

“Americans believe abortion should be limited yet include exceptions for rape, incest, or to save the life of the mother,” Carvalho said.

According to the newly released poll, 67% of Americans “support placing legal limits on abortion.”

Carvalho told The Center Square that “despite the changes in practice that have occurred since the Supreme Court’s landmark Dobbs decision, public opinion has remained consistent.”

The Knights of Columbus Supreme Knight Patrick Kelly told The Center Square that “the Knights of Columbus-Marist Poll continues to show that a majority of Americans support legal restrictions on abortion”

“At the same time, a growing majority support pregnancy resource centers, which provide assistance to mothers and their children in their time of greatest need,” Kelly said.

Kelly explained that “the Knights of Columbus’ mission will continue to be guided by” principles of the sanctity of life “until abortion becomes unthinkable.”

As Kelly alluded to, the poll showed that 84% of Americans support pregnancy centers to help mothers and babies.

Additionally, 63% of Americans “believe healthcare professionals with religious objections to abortions should not be legally required to perform them,” and 88% “believe that laws can protect both the mother and her unborn child,” the poll showed.

The Marist Poll – as “commissioned annually” by the Knights of Columbus – conducted the survey of 1,408 adults in January 2026 that revealed American sentiments towards abortion, according to a news release.

The Knights-Marist Poll came shortly before the 53rd annual March for Life Friday.

Susan B. Anthony Pro-Life America president Marjorie Dannenfelser told The Center Square: “On this pivotal occasion of the 53rd March for Life, in a post-Roe v. Wade nation, pro-life Americans have good reason to celebrate progress.”

Dannenfelser continued: “Roe’s imposition of abortion on demand across the country by seven unelected men is finally overturned, the power to protect babies in the womb and their mothers has been returned to the people and the democratic process, and 20 states have laws in effect protecting life at least by the first trimester.”

“But the end of Roe was not the end of our work by far,” Dannenfelser said, noting that there are more abortions today than before due to Biden’s mail-order abortion move.

Dannenfelser said that the Trump administration must “at a minimum” reinstate an in-person doctor visit for the abortion drug as in his first term and that the GOP majority must “stand firm for the Hyde Amendment and against forcing taxpayers to fund abortions, not suggest that we need ‘flexibility’ on this baseline, broad consensus policy.”

“The hundreds of thousands of pro-life Americans who have filled the National Mall over the years and the millions of pro-life voters nationwide are watching and expect nothing less,” Dannenfelser said.

President at health sharing ministry Solidarity HealthShare Chris Faddis similarly told The Center Square: “As we celebrate the National March for Life, we remind our law and policy makers in Washington, DC to use the remaining years of the Trump term to advance life affirming healthcare policies for the good of us all.”

“The pro-life movement has shifted focus to passing legislation and enacting public policies that strengthen efforts to protect the unborn,” Faddis said.

These policies and efforts include “unwavering defense of the Hyde Amendment and adopting MAHA policies that bolster life affirming healthcare in America,” Faddis said.

CEO of the American Association of Pro-Life Obstetricians and Gynecologists (AAPLOG) Dr. Christina Francis told The Center Square that the March for Life gives “an opportunity to stand up for the dignity of our patients, both mother and child, and to highlight the science and truth of life-affirming healthcare.”

“‘Do no harm” demands a clear rejection of the claim that induced abortion is healthcare, a falsehood that has become pervasive in medicine and our culture at large,” Francis said.

“When leading medical organizations legitimize this false narrative, both mother and child suffer,” Francis said.