Threat of Zika Is Changing Americans’ Minds About Late-Term Abortion
As the threat of homegrown Zika spreads, Americans are getting more realistic about abortion regulations.
A poll conducted by the Harvard School of Public Health and STAT last month found that while 61 percent of Americans oppose abortions after 24 weeks, a majority would actually support late-term abortions in the case of microcephaly — a condition in which a baby is born with a underdeveloped brain and skull. Microcephaly, found in infants whose mothers have been infected by Zika, is only detectable after 24 weeks of pregnancy.
However, 22 states ban abortions after 24 weeks of pregnancy. And just this March, Indiana Gov. Mike Pence (now Republican candidate for Vice President) signed a bill entirely blocking women from seeking an abortion “solely” because the fetus had a fetal abnormality — like microcephaly or Down syndrome.
“The data are clear that although people aren’t in favor of late-term abortion in general they are sympathetic to women when their pregnancies can be affected by Zika virus,” Gillian SteelFisher, deputy director of the Harvard Opinion Research program, told STAT.
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