Survey: Most Texas Latino Voters Support Women’s Right To Make Abortion Decisions

 Seventy-eight percent of Texas Latino voters believe that women have a right to make their own decisions about abortion, without interference from politicians, according to a new survey, the McAllen Monitorreports.

For the survey, commissioned by the National Latina Institute for Reproductive Health and conducted by PerryUndem, researchers polled 603 Texas residents who self-identified as Latino and said they “always” or “frequently” vote.

Key Findings 

The survey found that 60% of respondents believe that abortion should be legal, even if church leaders are against the procedure.

In addition, almost 60% said that abortion restrictions that became state law over the past three years represent “a step in the wrong direction,” according to the Monitor.

The PerryUndem poll took a different approach than a nationwide Pew Research Foundation survey last year that found that 53% of Latinos believe abortion should be illegal in the U.S. By contrast, the new poll focused on whether abortion should be a personal decision.

NLIRH organizers said the Pew questions did not reflect Latinos’ complex attitudes on abortion.

NLIRH Director of Public Affairs Kimberly Inez McGuire said, “Just because a Latino person identifies as religious does not mean they blindly follow positions of church leaders when it comes to the law” (Mosbrucker, McAllen Monitor, 10/24).