The vast majority of both Democrats and Republicans in Alaska favor criminalizing late-term abortion, according to a new poll by a left-of-center polling project called “Common Ground in the Battlegrounds.”

The Alaska survey was conducted July 22-Aug. 3 and included 600 adults from across the political spectrum.

Among the findings, the poll indicates that 70% of Alaska respondents favor imposing prison time or major fines for abortionists who intentionally kill a viable preborn baby who could have otherwise survived outside her mother’s womb. This includes 57% of Democrats and 80% of Republicans. Overall, 70% of Alaskans favor criminalizing these late-term abortions. The margin of error was +/- 6.5%.

Despite these findings, Alaska remains one of the most pro-abortion states in the nation, with no limits on when a preborn baby can be killed via abortion. The Alaska Supreme Court has repeatedly ruled that the privacy clause in the State Constitution should be interpreted to mean that there is a fundamental right to abortion on demand. To date, every pro-life law has been struck down by the Alaska Supreme Court.

Many pro-life advocates have argued that the Alaska Legislature needs to explicitly define what the “right to privacy” means in the Alaska Constitution and clarify that it does not entail abortion. While the Legislature has the constitutional authority to define the “right to privacy,” it has never done so.

A press release by the pollsters clearly reveals that the goal of the recent Alaska survey was to demonstrate that most Alaskans oppose criminalizing abortion before a preborn baby is viable outside the womb.

Alaska respondents were asked whether it should be a crime to provide an abortion, punishable with prison time or major fines for the doctor. Three options were presented:

— Make abortion a crime at any point during the pregnancy (selected by 17% of Democrats, 23% of Republicans, 21% overall)

— Make abortion a crime only after the fetus is viable (22-24 weeks), meaning the fetus can likely survive outside the womb (selected by 40% of Democrats, 57% of Republicans, 49% overall)

— Do not make abortion a crime (selected by 42% of Democrats, 20% of Republicans, 30% overall)

The pollsters noted that combining the answers from the second and third positions reveals that “a large bipartisan majority opposes making abortion a crime before fetal viability. This includes 82% of Democrats, 77% of Republicans, and 79% overall.”

However, the pollsters were also forced to acknowledge that combining the answers from the first two positions shows that 57% of Democrats, 80% of Republicans and 70% of Alaskans overall support making abortion a crime after fetal viability.

Conducted by the University of Maryland’s Program for Public Consultation, the polling project was backed by several left-of-center public policy groups. These include Program for Public Consultation, Civic Innovation Center, and Voice of the People.

In the lead-up to the midterm elections, the Common Ground in the Battlegrounds project is conducting and releasing a survey series in 11 competitive states and 28 competitive U.S. House districts.

The goal of the project is to show where Americans broadly agree on certain political issues in an effort to demonstrate bipartisan support for certain policies about abortion, birth control access, immigration and more.

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