Multiple bills concerning abortion rights have been discussed during this legislative session in Baton Rouge, and it remains a polarizing topic in Louisiana. However, Dr. Michael Henderson of the LSU Public Policy Research Lab says there has been slow but steady growth in support for legal access to abortion, based on results from their 2022 Louisiana survey.
In a poll of 508 residents, 46 percent of Louisianans say abortion should be legal in all or most cases, while 49 percent believe abortion should be illegal.
In a similar survey in 2016, 55 percent of the state’s residents said abortion should be illegal, while 40 percent thought it should be legal.
Like so many issues, opinions seem to fall along political party lines. Henderson says that while Republicans have remained fairly consistent in their attitudes, Democrats who support legal access rose from 51 to 74 percent since 2016.
