Most registered voters in Tennessee want exceptions for rape or incest in the state's sweeping abortion ban, but they largely don't know the specifics of what's in the law as it stands today, according to new Vanderbilt University polling.
The disconnect comes in a state that votes consistently for Republicans and has one of the strictest abortion bans in the country. Three out of four people polled think that abortion should be legal if the pregnancy results from rape or incest, an exception that doesn't exist in current law. But fewer than 1 in 5 were able to pick which of the statements Vanderbilt provided that most closely described the current abortion law's requirements, according to Vanderbilt pollsters.
Asked about six descriptions, 36% of respondents said they did not know enough to say what the law entails, while 23% chose the option “illegal except in the case of rape, incest, or to save the life of the mother.”
