Beyond the Labels: AAPI Women on Abortion Care, Dignity, and Criminalization
As abortion bans expand nationwide, Asian American and Pacific Islander (AAPI) women are navigating a policy landscape that increasingly destabilizes our health, safety, and dignity. Since the Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization repealed Roe v. Wade in 2022, lawmakers in many states have moved swiftly to pass and enforce abortion bans, resulting in widespread confusion, fear, and hundreds of criminalized cases nationwide. The impact falls hardest on AAPI women already navigating economic insecurity, precarious immigration status, caregiving responsibilities, and limited access to culturally and linguistically appropriate care.
Beyond the Labels is the largest national, multilingual Asian American Pacific Islander (AAPI) abortion study of its kind, with groundbreaking qualitative and quantitative findings about how AAPI women across more than 25 ethnicities are thinking about and engaging with abortion rights. Despite the AAPI population being the fastest-growing racial group in the United States, composed of over 24 million individuals from over 50 ethnic groups, AAPI-specific research on abortion remains rare.
Developed with Lake Research Partners and Sprout Insight, this study represents a snapshot of abortion perspectives during the summer and fall of 2025 among AAPI women. These findings reflect the attitudes and knowledge of abortion, barriers that members of the AAPI community face, and the messages that resonate. Download the report to read the full findings, or view the rest of this page for a brief summary.
Summary of Findings
AAPI women see abortion as a deeply personal, not political decision, rooted in human rights, safety, and family.
Despite wide differences in culture, language, faith, immigration status, and political identity, the findings show that AAPI women overwhelmingly support abortion care, viewing it as essential for the health and well-being of pregnant people – not as something that warrants government or criminal legal intervention.
AAPI women see abortion as health care, not a crime.
While AAPI women express mixed views about the criminal legal system overall, they strongly reject applying punishment to pregnancy and health care. AAPI women see making an abortion a crime as widely unfair and disproportionately harmful for its role in deepening inequities, increasing barriers to care, and creating fear that deters people, especially those already marginalized, from seeking health services. This holds even among women who believe abortion should be restricted or believe the legal system should be tougher on crime, indicating a strong separation between health care and crime.
To see the full findings, including insights from our focus groups, effectiveness of specific messages, and more, download the full report.