Most Americans reject using the criminal justice system to police abortion care.
Since the Supreme Court ruled in Dobbs v. Jackson and overturned Roe v. Wade in 2022, more than half of U.S. states have passed laws that dramatically restrict and criminalize abortion. These laws assign criminal penalties—including fines and prison time—not only to healthcare providers who provide abortions or write prescriptions for abortion pills, but in some cases, also to people who assist abortion seekers. Yet, a growing body of research suggests these punitive measures do not reflect the views of most Americans.
Our team on the Abortion Attitudes Project has been studying public opinion about abortion for approximately eight years, including whether people believe those involved in abortions—pregnant people, healthcare providers and people helping abortion seekers—should be punished if abortion is made illegal. Across various national surveys we conducted before and after Dobbs, we have consistently found that most people do not endorse harsh penalties for pregnant people or healthcare providers.
The Landscape of Abortion Legislation Post-Dobbs
These findings are in sharp contrast to today’s legal landscape:
- In Texas, Senate Bill 8 allows private citizens to sue anyone who helps someone obtain an abortion.
- In Oklahoma, providers face felony charges, which are punishable by fines and imprisonment.
- In Arkansas and South Carolina, lawmakers have previously proposed classifying abortion as homicide—making both providers and people seeking abortion eligible for the death penalty—though the bills did not pass.
These are not isolated proposals. Since Dobbs, several states have introduced or enacted laws that criminalize abortion in sweeping and unprecedented ways.
But punitive approaches to abortion are not new. Before Roe v. Wade, many states criminalized abortion, primarily targeting physicians, but also other people who performed or provided assistance with abortions, which could include midwives, nurses, non-physicians and laypeople. Such individuals were faced with imprisonment, fines and loss of license.
Today, we are witnessing a resurgence of these punitive legal models, despite public sentiment strongly opposing such models.
… before and after Dobbs, we have consistently found that most people do not endorse harsh penalties for pregnant people or healthcare providers.
Although no post-Dobbs laws explicitly criminalize pregnant people for obtaining abortions, some prosecutors are finding creative ways to criminalize pregnant people using existing statutes. For example, related actions—like medication possession, sale, and use, or disposal of fetal remains—have also been used to charge pregnant people. These developments warrant concern and scrutiny.
Attitudes About Punishment for Illegal Abortion
Our research helps explain why many Americans don’t support these measures. In 2020, we conducted a survey using an opt-in panel with 2,489 participants. We asked respondents to elaborate on their views regarding their selection of appropriate punishments for illegal abortion. People emphasized principles such as bodily autonomy, distrust of government overreach (in restricting abortion in the first place), and the belief that healthcare decisions should remain between a patient and their healthcare provider. Even among those who believed abortion should be illegal, many drew a clear line at incarceration or criminal punishment, especially for pregnant people.
Consider this: In early 2025, a Louisiana mother was criminally indicted for allegedly obtaining abortion pills online from a New York doctor and giving them to her teenage daughter—an act considered a felony under the state’s near-total abortion ban. Both the mother and the prescribing physician were charged with criminal abortion via medication. Yet, in our survey, some Americans—even many who think abortion should be illegal—believe that individuals in such harrowing circumstances do not deserve punishment.
We also found that attitudes about punishment vary depending on context. People were less supportive of penalties when the abortion was sought for medical reasons or in cases of rape than for other reasons. These nuanced views suggest that abortion stigma—and the punitive instincts it can trigger—are shaped by moral judgments about who “deserves” an abortion and why.
Geography matters, too. People living in abortion-restrictive states were more likely to endorse penalties. But even in those states, support for jail or prison time for both the pregnant person and the healthcare provider was relatively low. The most common responses for the pregnant person were “no punishment” (23 percent), “therapy/education” (30 percent) or “fines” (24 percent), and for the healthcare provider were “no punishment” (26 percent), “fines” (25 percent) and loss of license/inability to practice (15 percent). This suggests a “representational disconnect” in policy-making between the punitive policies being enacted and the views of the people.
Why Does a Disconnect Between Attitudes and Legislation Matter?
There are broader implications here. Decades of research in criminology show that when people perceive laws as unjust, they are less likely to comply with them. Laws that assign severe punishments for actions many view as morally complex—or even justifiable—risk undermining public trust in the legal system. Legitimacy matters, and punitive abortion laws may ultimately erode the very institutions that enact them.
Public opinion … reveals a consistent discomfort with using the criminal justice system to penalize pregnant people and healthcare providers.
Abortion remains a deeply complicated and nuanced issue. But on the question of punishment, there is surprising consensus. Even those who object to abortion being legal often distinguish between legal disapproval and criminalization. Public opinion, while nuanced, reveals a consistent discomfort with using the criminal justice system to penalize pregnant people and healthcare providers.
Policymakers should take note. As states continue to debate abortion bans and penalties, our findings provide a clear message: Most Americans do not want people jailed for seeking, providing or acquiring abortions or imprisoned for helping them. Instead of escalating criminalization, lawmakers should pay attention to public opinion and ensure that laws and policies align with the views of the electorate—especially in a post-Dobbs legal landscape where public opinion is often more lenient than the law allows. Listening to the people, not just political elites, is essential.
This disconnect—between public sentiment and legislative action—raises serious questions about whether current policies reflect the values and will of the people. As the legal landscape continues to shift, it’s time to reconsider how punishment aligns with public consensus regarding abortion—and whether, by punishing people who seek abortions and those who provide them, justice is truly being served.
