Opinions About Abortion Among Reproductive-Age Women in Ohio

Most studies investigating abortion attitudes use nationally representative data, leaving a need for studies of variation within a state. This study investigates abortion opinion among women in Ohio, a state with restrictive abortion policies, as well as how individual-level characteristics are associated with abortion opinions. Data comes from the Ohio Survey of Women, which was administered from October 2018 to June 2019 to women aged 18–44 years in Ohio (n = 2529; analytic n = 2356). From six questions capturing abortion opinion, we developed a composite measure indicating whether respondents felt “supportive,” “unsupportive,” or “mixed” toward abortion. We examined correlates of abortion opinions using multinomial logistic regression, with “mixed” as the reference category. We applied survey weights in all analyses so that the results are representative of our population as a whole (Ohio women aged 18–44). Fifty-three percent of respondents were supportive of abortion, with 30% offering mixed views and 17% being unsupportive. Most sociodemographic variables were inconsistent in their significance. Independents (odds ratio [OR]: 0.44, 95% confidence interval [CI]: 0.30–0.65) and Democrats (OR: 0.23, CI: 0.14–0.39) were significantly less likely to be unsupportive versus mixed than Republicans. Democrats (OR: 0.4.54, CI: 3.17–6.79) were more likely to be supportive than mixed compared to Republicans, as were those with some other political affiliation (OR: 3.38, CI: 1.89–6.04). Compared to those who never attend religious services, those who attend once per week or more were significantly more likely to be unsupportive than mixed (OR: 3.54, CI: 2.04–6.13), and less likely to be supportive than mixed (OR: 0.33, CI: 0.19–0.55). Additionally, Protestants (OR: 0.62, CI: 0.39–0.97), other Christians (OR: 0.33, CI: 0.39–0.57), and those of other denominations (OR: 0.47, CI: 0.24–0.93) were less likely than those unaffiliated with a religious denomination to be supportive than mixed. Knowing someone who had an abortion or having had one oneself increased odds of being supportive over mixed (OR: 2.16, CI: 1.64–2.84), while being from rural Appalachia decreased odds of being supportive (OR: 0.70, CI: 0.50–0.97). Black respondents were more likely to feel mixed compared to white respondents, having lower odds of being both unsupportive (OR: 0.23, CI: 0.10–0.55) and supportive (OR: 0.55, CI: 0.34–0.91) than mixed. Overall, a majority of women of reproductive age in Ohio were supportive of abortion, with political affiliation and religious service attendance correlating with abortion opinion. The relatively high amount of support for abortion in Ohio highlights an inconsistency between opinion and Ohio’s restrictive legislative landscape.