Abortion Experiences, Knowledge, and Attitudes Among Women in the U.S.: Findings from the 2024 KFF Women’s Health Survey

The 2024 KFF Women’s Health Survey was designed and analyzed by women’s health researchers at KFF. The survey was conducted from May 13 – June 18, 2024, online and by telephone among a nationally representative sample of 6,246 adults ages 18 to 64, including 3,901 women ages 18 to 49. Women include anyone who selected woman as their gender (n = 3,867) or who said they were non-binary (n = 26), transgender (n = 4), or another gender (n = 3) and chose to answer the female set of questions with regard to sexual and reproductive health. The project includes oversamples of women ages 18 to 49 in Arizona (n = 298) and Florida (n = 512). Sampling, data collection, weighting, tabulation, and IRB approval by the University of Southern Maine’s Collaborative Institutional Review Board were managed by SSRS of Glenn Mills, Pennsylvania in collaboration with women’s health researchers at KFF.

Throughout the reports of findings, we refer to “women”. This includes respondents who said their gender is “woman,” plus those who said their gender is “transgender,” or “non-binary,” or another gender and that they prefer to answer the survey’s set of questions for females. We followed this approach to try to include as many people as possible but recognize that some people who need and seek abortion and other reproductive health care services may not be represented in the findings or identify as women.

The national sample as well as the samples in Arizona and Florida were drawn from two nationally representative probability-based panels: the SSRS Opinion Panel and the Ipsos KnowledgePanel. The SSRS Opinion Panel is a nationally representative probability-based panel where panel members are recruited randomly in one of two ways: (a) Through invitations mailed to respondents randomly sampled from an Address-Based Sample (ABS) provided by Marketing Systems Groups (MSG) through the U.S. Postal Service’s Computerized Delivery Sequence (CDS); (b) from a dual-frame random digit dial (RDD) sample provided by MSG. For the online panel component, invitations were sent to panel members by email followed by up to five reminder emails. 5,276 panel members completed the survey online and panel members who do not use the internet were reached by phone (175). Another 970 respondents were reached online through the Ipsos Knowledge Panel to help reach adequate sample sizes among subgroups of interest, specifically women ages 18 to 49. This panel is recruited using ABS, based on a stratified sample from the CDS. The questionnaire was translated into Spanish, so respondents were able to complete the survey in English or Spanish.

The national sample was weighted by splitting the sample into three groups: [1] Women 18-49, [2] Women 50-64, and [3] Men 18-64 and each group was separately weighted to match known population parameters (see table below for weighting variables and sources). Weights within the three groups were then trimmed at the 4th and 96th percentiles, to ensure that individual respondents do not have too much influence on survey-derived estimates. After the weights were trimmed, the samples were combined, and the weights adjusted, so that the groups were represented in their proper proportions for a final combined, gender by age-adjusted weight. Lastly, two additional weights for interviews among women 18-49 in Arizona and Florida were calculated for analyses among those specific sub-groups. Each of the state-specific weights were trimmed at the 2nd and 98th percentiles, to ensure that individual respondents do not have too much influence on survey-derived estimates.

Dimensions Source
Age CPS 2023 ASEC
Education
Age by Education
Age by Gender
Census Region
Race/Ethnicity by Nativity
Home Tenure
Civic Engagement CPS 2021 Volunteering & Civic Engagement Supplement
Internet Frequency SSRS Opinion Panel Database 2024
Population Density ACS 206-2020 5-year data
NEP Regions Census Planning Database 2022
Voter Registration CPS 2022 Voting & Registration Supplement

The margins of sampling error for the national sample of reproductive age women, Arizona reproductive age women, and Florida reproductive age women are plus or minus 2 percentage points, 8 percentage points, and 6 percentage points respectively. Numbers of respondents and margins of sampling error for key subgroups are shown in the table below. For results based on other subgroups, the margin of sampling error may be higher. Sampling error is only one of many potential sources of error and there may be other unmeasured error in this survey.

 Group N (unweighted) M.O.S.E.
National Women Ages 18-49 3901 ± 2 percentage points
White, non-Hispanic 1856 ± 3 percentage points
Black, non-Hispanic 603 ± 5 percentage points
Hispanic 963 ± 4 percentage points
Asian 286 ± 7 percentage points
<200% FPL 1667 ± 3 percentage points
200%+ FPL 1974 ± 3 percentage points
Pro-life 1074 ± 4 percentage points
Pro-choice 2815 ± 2 percentage points
Republican/Republican-leaning 1076 ± 4 percentage points
Democrat/Democrat-leaning 1803 ± 3 percentage points
Urban/Suburban 3379 ± 2 percentage points
Rural 473 ± 6 percentage points
Lives in a state where abortion is banned 857 ± 4 percentage points
Lives in a state where abortion has gestational limits 6-12 weeks 819 ± 5 percentage points
Lives in a state where abortion has gestational limits 15-22 weeks 594 ± 6 percentage points
Lives in a state where gestational limited are 24+ weeks or none 1631 ± 3 percentage points
Arizona Women Ages 18-49 298 ± 8 percentage points
<200% FPL 121 ± 12 percentage points
200%+ FPL 162 ± 10 percentage points
Florida Women Ages 18-49 512 ± 6 percentage points
White, non-Hispanic 229 ± 9 percentage points
Hispanic 155 ± 11 percentage points
<200% FPL 182 ± 10 percentage points
200%+ FPL 297 ± 8 percentage points
Pro-life 143 ± 12 percentage points
Pro-choice 366 ± 7 percentage points
Republican/Republican-leaning 169 ± 11 percentage points
Democrat/Democrat-leaning 231 ± 9 percentage points

 

Appendix

KFF Headquarters: 185 Berry St., Suite 2000, San Francisco, CA 94107 | Phone 650-854-9400
Washington Offices and Barbara Jordan Conference Center: 1330 G Street, NW, Washington, DC 20005 | Phone 202-347-5270

www.kff.org | Email Alerts: kff.org/email | facebook.com/KFF | twitter.com/kff

The independent source for health policy research, polling, and news, KFF is a nonprofit organization based in San Francisco, California.