While a large majority of Americans favor legal abortion during the first trimester of pregnancy, support drops sharply for abortions in the second and third trimester. Yet as Sarah Kliff observes, only 10.3 percent of abortions take place after the first 13 weeks of pregnancy. Kliff draws on a new study from the Guttmacher Institute that looks into who gets later-term abortions.
These numbers raise a number of questions for the pro-life and the pro-choice movements. For example, has the focus on later-term abortions distracted from the larger case against elective abortions? Should those who favor broad access to abortion make more concessions on later-term abortions to consolidate their gains?