Maybe this chart will explain the 20 point difference in the polling numbers.


States Enact Record Number of Abortion Restrictions in First Half of 2011


July 13, 2011



In the first six months of 2011, states enacted 162 new provisions
related to reproductive health and rights. Fully 49% of these new laws
seek to restrict access to abortion services, a sharp increase from
2010, when 26% of new laws restricted abortion. The 80 abortion
restrictions enacted this year are more than double the previous record
of 34 abortion restrictions enacted in 2005—and more than triple the 23
enacted in 2010. All of these new provisions were enacted in just 19
states.Counseling and waiting periods. Five states (IN, KS,
ND, SD and TX) adopted laws related to abortion counseling and waiting
periods in 2011, but a measure adopted by South Dakota at the end of
March went significantly farther than those approved in other states.
The law expands the pre-abortion waiting period to 72 hours, requires
the woman to visit a crisis pregnancy center in the interim and mandates
that abortion counseling be provided in-person by the physician who
will perform the procedure. The counseling must include information on
all known risk factors related to abortion, even when the information is
not supported by mainstream medical opinion and is methodologically
unsound. The law is currently not in effect, pending the outcome of a
legal challenge.
Gestational bans. Legislators in 15 states introduced
measures based on a law adopted in Nebraska last year. The provision
bans abortions at and after 20 weeks’ gestation, based on the spurious
assumption that a fetus can feel pain at that point. Under the measure,
abortions may be performed after 20 weeks only if the woman’s life is
endangered or if there is a risk of “substantial and irreversible
physical impairment of a major bodily function.” So far this year,
similar measures have been adopted in five states (AL, ID, IN, KS and
OK; see State Policies on Later Term Abortion).
These laws appear to conflict with Supreme Court rulings barring states
from placing an undue burden on women seeking an abortion prior to
viability, a point that occurs well past 20 weeks.


“Heartbeat” bill. Ohio is taking a different approach
to achieve the same goal of banning abortion. In June, the House adopted
a measure that would ban abortion once a fetal heartbeat can be
detected, which usually occurs between six and 10 weeks’ gestation. The
bill is awaiting action in the Senate.
Banning abortion coverage in new insurance exchanges.
With plans for the implementation of health care reform underway in most
states, the issue of insurance coverage for abortion was considered in
24 states, and restrictions were enacted in eight. In four states (KS,
NE, OK and UT), the new laws restrict abortion coverage under all
private health insurance plans. These restrictions will apply to
coverage that will be available through the health exchanges being set
up, as will new measures enacted in four other states (FL, ID, IN and
VA). Including these new laws, eight states now restrict abortion
coverage that is offered in any private health plan (including coverage
through an exchange), and six others have restrictions that apply only
to coverage through health exchanges (see Restricting Insurance Coverage of Abortion).


Medication abortion. Legislatures devoted significant
attention to medication abortion for the first time during the 2011
session; measures were introduced in 14 states and enacted in six.
Medication abortion has become an integral part of abortion care, now
accounting for 17% of procedures provided in nonhospital clinics.
Lawmakers considered two types of restrictions related to medication
abortion:

• Laws enacted this year in Kansas and Oklahoma require abortion
  providers to use a protocol that was specified by the FDA when the
  method was approved in 2000. This protocol has since been supplanted by a
  new one that, based on a substantial body of evidence, supports a more
  streamlined procedure under which women are given a lower dose of the
  medication and allowed to take the second dose at home, eliminating a
  second visit to the abortion provider. The new protocol also allows use
  of medication abortion up to 63 days’ gestation, rather than the 49 days
  permitted under the FDA protocol. A similar restriction that was
  enacted by Ohio in 2004 was recently upheld in federal court.


• In an entirely new approach to restricting access to abortion,
  five states (AZ, KS, ND, NE and TN) banned the use of telemedicine for
  the provision of medication abortion, a procedure through which a woman
  can go to an abortion provider, receive counseling via videoconference
  from a physician in another location who then authorizes on-site staff
  to dispense the medication. Use of telemedicine in general has been
  growing rapidly in recent years, and is widely credited with expanding
  access to medical care in areas, especially rural communities, where
  services have often been inaccessible.

Family Planning Programs in the Crosshairs
For the first time in recent memory, state legislatures devoted
significant attention to issues related to family planning in 2011. Much
of this came in the context of state budget bills.
Holding the line in some states. Considering the
historic fiscal crises facing many states, it is significant that family
planning escaped major reductions in nine of the 18 states (CO, CT, DE,
IL, KS, MA, ME, NY and PA) where the budget has a specific line item
for family planning.
Deep cuts in others. The story, however, was different
in the remaining nine states. In six (FL, GA, MI, MN, WA and WI), family
planning programs sustained deep cuts, although generally in line with
decreases adopted for other health programs. In the other three states,
however, the cuts to family planning funding were disproportionately
large: Montana eliminated the family planning line item, and New
Hampshire and Texas cut funding by 57% and 66%, respectively.
Expanding Medicaid eligibility. It is especially
noteworthy in this fiscal climate that two states moved to expand
Medicaid eligibility for family planning. In Maryland, the legislature
directed the state to extend coverage to individuals with an income up
to 200% of the federal poverty level; the state currently has a limited
expansion that extends coverage only to women following a
Medicaid-funded delivery. The state received approval for this change
from the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, the federal agency
that administers Medicaid, at the end of June, and the expansion is
expected to go into effect in January 2012. Washington State
dramatically reversed earlier attempts to roll back its existing
Medicaid family planning expansion entirely. The legislature directed
the state to raise eligibility under the program from 200% to 250% of
the federal poverty level.
Targeting providers. Nonetheless, five states moved to
restrict funding to family planning providers, largely paralleling
similar attempts made in Congress earlier in the year. These states took
three distinct approaches:

[*]Two states moved to restrict eligibility for family planning
funds for providers that have any association with abortion. Indiana
prohibits agencies that provide abortion from receiving any funding
through the state, including Medicaid. (On June 30, a federal district
court blocked enforcement of the legislation.) Wisconsin prohibits
agencies that provide abortion services or referrals from receiving
funding through the state. Neither state is a Title X grantee, so Title X
funds are not affected by the restriction. Planned Parenthood is the
only agency that is affected in either state. These new measures join
long-standing provisions in three other states (CO, OH and TX) requiring
agencies that receive funding—either state family planning funds or
federal block grant allotments—through a state agency to be separate
from agencies that provide abortion services (see State Family Planning Funding Restrictions ).[/*]

• North Carolina adopted a measure that explicitly bans Planned
  Parenthood from obtaining funding, including Medicaid, through the
  state. Since North Carolina is a Title X grantee, the measure blocks
  Planned Parenthood affiliates in the state from receiving Title X funds.
  (Planned Parenthood of Central North Carolina has filed a lawsuit
  challenging the constitutionality of this provision; as of this writing,
  the measure remains in effect.)


• Two additional states took aim at agencies that provide mostly
  family planning services, regardless of whether they have any connection
  to abortion. Kansas enacted a measure that limits the distribution of
  Title X funds to health departments, hospitals and community health
  centers; other types of family planning providers are not eligible.
  (Planned Parenthood of Kansas and Mid-Missouri has filed a legal
  challenge to the provision; as of this writing, the measure remains in
  effect.) Texas, meanwhile, adopted a measure that gives priority to
  health departments, community health centers and hospitals in the
  distribution of family planning funds, including Title X funds; other
  family planning providers may receive funding should any remain.

The 2011 state legislative season is rapidly drawing to a close, with
only 10 state legislatures remaining in session. Additional states are
likely to adjourn in the coming weeks.
For more information:


Guttmacher State Center


Chart of laws enacted in 2011


State Policies in Brief


[url=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rY-bQ6UzhNI]Guttmacher's video on "Abortion in the United States"[/url]