Monday numbers: As U.S. states struggle with post-Roe abortion laws, a look at public opinion around the globe

A lot has happened since late June, when the U.S. Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade, eliminating the constitutional right to abortion.

Republican-led states have made moves to revive previous abortion restrictions or enact new and sweeping ones. Democratic-led states have rushed to enshrine the right in state law. While North Carolina providers have been inundated with patients from other, more restrictive states, the legislature’s GOP leadership is seeking to reinstate the state’s 20-week abortion ban. New and more comprehensive anti-abortion bills are on the horizon should Republicans win a veto-proof majority in November, GOP leaders have signaled.

Last week, in deeply red Kansas, an anti-abortion amendment to the state constitution was soundly defeated. The result shocked lawmakers, political operatives and prognosticators on both sides of the issue and could affect how politicians run on (or away from) the issue going into the fall, to say nothing of how they attempt to implement new abortion restrictions. A decade ago, North Carolina handled the question of same-sex marriage with a change to the state constitution, which required a statewide referendum. The fate of the Kansas amendment makes that strategy much less likely.

As the fall of Roe continues to shake American politics, new polling from Ipsos puts the issue of abortion rights in a global context. The survey, completed last month, gauged the opinions of people under age 75 in 27 countries. This week, a by-the-numbers look at the issue with some global perspective.

59 – percentage of Kansas voters who rejected an anti-abortion constitutional amendment at the ballot last week

In a demographic analysis Nate Cohn, chief political analyst for The New York Times, found the results in Kansas suggest even stronger support for abortion rights nationwide, in both red and blue states. Cohn predicted the results in similar votes would be roughly the same in four of five states.

59 – percentage of respondents in the international Ipsos poll who said abortion should be legal in all cases or in most cases.

On average globally, three in 10 of those surveyed said it should be legal in all cases, while 29% said it should be legal in most. Dramatically fewer (16%) said it should be illegal in most cases. Just 10% said it should be illegal in all cases. Another 16% said they didn’t know or preferred not to say.

80 – percentage of respondents, on global average, who supported legal abortion if the pregnancy threatens the life or health of the woman — Ipsos found majority support under that circumstance in every country surveyed

76 – percentage of respondents, on global average, who supported legal abortion if the pregnancy is the result of a rape — Ipsos found majority support under that circumstance in every country except Malaysia

67 – percentage of respondents, on global average, who supported legal abortion if the child is likely to be born with severe disabilities or health problems, including a majority in all countries except Malaysia and Japan

6 – number of weeks of pregnancy within which the most respondents (62%) said abortion should be legal for any woman– support for that position dropped the farther along the pregnancy

45 – percentage of respondents who said abortion should be legal for any woman in the first 14 weeks of pregnancy

27 – percentage of respondents who said abortion should be legal for any woman in the first 20 weeks of pregnancy

32 – percentage of respondents across all 27 countries who said a woman should be punished if she illegally has an abortion

44 – percentage who said the person who illegally performed an abortion should be punished

42 – percentage who said a person who illegally arranged for an abortion should be punished