Gallup Poll Shows More Americans Want to Ban All Abortions

Gallup’s newly released May 1-17 Values and Beliefs poll shows an encouraging change in how Americans currently think about abortion.

After hovering around 13% since 2022, when the Dobbs decision was handed down and Roe overturned, Gallup’s 2026 poll showed a 4% jump in Americans who believe abortion should be illegal in all circumstances.

There was also an encouraging 4% decrease in Americans who think abortion should be legal under most circumstances, falling from 19% in 2025 to 15% in 2026.

The number of Americans who identify as pro-life also showed progress. In Gallup’s 2022 poll, which began on the same day the Dobbs decision was leaked (May 2), 39% of Americans identified as pro-life. In the most recent 2026 poll, that number increased by 3% with 42% of Americans now considering themselves to be pro-life.

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It is also important to note that the Gallup poll only offers the ambiguous term “pro-choice” as the opposite identifier. In the years following Dobbs, it has become absolutely clear that what the abortion lobby means by “pro-choice” is pro-abortion, through all nine months of pregnancy and with no regulation. Since 2022, this has become especially clear as abortion lobbyists, politicians, and providers like Planned Parenthood have poured millions into enshrining abortion, often through all nine months, in every state constitution they can.

A more accurate question for the Gallup poll might be: Do you align yourself with current pro-life values that publicly support protection for babies in the womb, or do you align yourself with current pro-abortion values that publicly support aborting babies at any stage?

A previous Gallup poll (2023) revealed that 55% of Americans were against legalized abortion in the second trimester, and an overwhelming 70% against it in the third trimester. Interestingly enough, that particular survey question has not made it back on the Gallup poll in the last three years. Perhaps because those percentages are also growing, but wouldn’t fit the well-funded narrative of the abortion lobby.

Troy Newman, President of Operation Rescue states, “The Abortion Cartel continues losing ground and losing touch with the American people. Since 2022, we have seen 13 states become abortion-free and another pro-life administration voted into the White House. We have seen Planned Parenthood lose historic amounts of government funding and the dangerous abortion pill mifepristone come under intense scrutiny — all things Big Abortion and the mainstream media keep desperately insisting are not what Americans want.

“Yet four years after Dobbs, 3% more of us identify as pro-life, and 2% less of Americans identify as pro-choice.”

Back in 2022, the number of Americans identifying as pro-choice in the Gallup poll was the highest it had been in decades (55%). However, this year that number dropped to 53%.

How Americans think about the morality of abortion has also shown significant movement.

In 2022, 38% of Americans polled by Gallup considered abortion to be morally wrong. In 2025, that number rose to 40%, and in 2026 the needle moved even farther to 41%.

On the other side of the question (morally acceptable), there was no change between 2025 and 2026, staying around 49%. However, when looking at the bigger arc of four years since the fall of Roe, that number is down from 52% in 2022 — a 3% decrease in those who believe abortion to be morally okay.

“These needles are moving in a great direction,” Newman adds. “It demonstrates that life-affirming laws, education, and messaging resonate with the American people. Abortion has always been a battle to win hearts and minds. In a day and age where truth is under endless attack, church attendance is shrinking, and click-bait wins out over integrity in the media, the fact that 41% of Americans still believe abortion to be morally wrong is an incredible win. There is still much work to be done, but let’s celebrate the victories as they come, and as we continue the fight for life and to seek protection for every baby in the womb.”

LifeNews Note: This article was originally published by Operation Rescue, a leading pro-life, Christian activist organization dedicated to exposing abortion abuses, demanding enforcement, saving innocent lives, and building an abortion-free America. The author, Sarah Neely, is Chief Operating Officer for Operation Rescue.