A majority of voters in the Deep South disagree with their states’ extreme restrictions, highlighting the disconnect between the public and the legislators who represent them.

Chelsea Jones, Samyu Comandur
October 7, 2026

In 2022, the Supreme Court revoked the constitutional right to an abortion in Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization, allowing states to control their own reproductive health policies. Since then, Southern legislatures have passed rigid limits on abortion and other forms of reproductive health care. At the same time, doctors now must weigh the possibility of felony charges when administering life-saving care. In Georgia, the Maternal Mortality Review Committee reportedly found that two pregnant Black women had died for lack of appropriate care.

As Southern legislators continue to push for more restrictive measures, we investigated whether the post-Dobbs abortion bans they have already enacted are consistent with their constituents’ views. They are not. Surveys indicate that Southern voters largely do not support the abortion policies in their states. That is especially true of the five states that make up the Deep South — Alabama, Georgia, Louisiana, Mississippi, and South Carolina — all of which either ban abortion outright or prohibit it beyond six weeks, making it effectively unavailable.

Continued: https://www.brennancenter.org/our-work/research-reports/southerners-are-misrepresented-abortion