In recent surveys conducted this year (January 2023) and last year (September of 2022), medication abortion has been a salient topic in the discussion of access to reproductive health care and reproductive rights. These surveys have found that voters nationwide and a majority of voters who live in states where abortion is illegal or the legislature is hostile toward abortion do not want medication abortion to be banned or restricted. Voters favor policies that would protect access to medication abortion.
Voters Oppose Preventing Access to Medication Abortion
About half of voters strongly oppose policies that would prevent access to medication abortion (62% oppose, 50% strongly) or would bar people from seeing their health care provider via telemedicine for medication abortion (61% oppose, 48% strongly).
Most key subgroups oppose a policy to prevent access to medication abortion.
- Subgroups who are most likely to strongly oppose a policy to prevent access to medication abortion are Democrats, pro-choice voters1 , and women.
- A majority of Independent voters and a plurality of Republicans oppose this policy.
- Notably, nearly half of voters who live in states where abortion is currently illegal or in states that are hostile toward abortion strongly oppose preventing access to medication abortion, and about six in ten voters in illegal or hostile states oppose this policy.
- Voters who are conflicted in their views on abortion are 11 points more likely to oppose preventing access to medication abortion than they are to favor it.
Similarly, most key subgroups oppose a policy that bars people from seeing their health care provider via telemedicine for medication abortion.
- Democrats and pro-choice voters are most likely to strongly oppose a policy that bars people from seeing their health care provider via telemedicine for medication abortion.
- A majority of women voters and a plurality of men voters strongly oppose this policy.
- Again, a majority of Independents oppose this policy, while Republican voters are more evenly split.
- A majority of voters who live in illegal and hostile states oppose barring people from access to medication abortion via a telemedicine appointment.
- Over half of voters who are conflicted in their views on abortion oppose this policy and over one third strongly oppose it.
Voters’ views toward policies that would negatively affect access to medication abortion, have remained consistent since the first David and Lucile Packard Foundation survey was conducted in September of 2022. In that survey, seven in ten voters say that preventing access to medication abortion would be bad, and one-third say it would be very bad. This includes voters in hostile and illegal states.
Voters Favor Access to Medication Abortion
While voters oppose banning access to medication abortion, they also favor federal laws that would ensure people can get access to medication abortion, or the abortion pill. Over two thirds favor a federal law that ensures access to the abortion pill (48% strongly favor), and 64% favor a federal law that ensures access to medication abortion (43% strongly favor).
Except for anti-choice voters and Republican voters, key subgroups of voters favor a federal law that ensures people can get access to the abortion pill or medication abortion.
- Democrats and pro-choice voters are most likely to strongly favor a federal law that ensures people can get access to the abortion pill or medication abortion.
- Independents favor this federal law by wide margins, and Republican voters lean toward favoring it, but are more evenly split.
- A majority of voters who live in illegal and hostile states favor this federal law and at least four in ten strongly favor.
Methodology
Survey 2 – Lake Research Partners designed and administered this online survey that was conducted January 3-12, 2023. The survey reached a total of 1,871 likely 2024 voters nationwide which includes a base sample of 1,001 likely 2024 voters and a panel of 206 likely 2024 voter respondents from survey one, with oversamples of 150 African American, 150 Latinx, 150 Asian American Pacific Islander, and 214 Native American/Indigenous likely 2024 voters. The ethnic/racial oversamples were weighted down into the base sample to their proper proportion of the universe for a total sample size of 1,001. The margin of error is +/-2.4%.
Survey 1 – Lake Research Partners designed and administered this online survey that was conducted September 1-9, 2022. The survey reached a total of 1,950 likely voters nationwide which includes a base sample of 1,500 likely voters with oversamples of 150 African American likely voters, 150 Latinx likely voters, and 150 Asian American Pacific Islander likely voters. The oversamples were weighted down into the base sample to their proper proportion of the universe for a total sample size of 1,500. The margin of error is +/-2.2%.
