Two-thirds of Americans say the abortion drug mifepristone, used in the majority of abortions in the United States, should remain on the market, according to a Washington Post-ABC News poll.
The poll finds that 66% of U.S. adults say mifepristone should remain on the market, while 24% say it should be taken off the market. Just under half, 47%, say access to mifepristone should be kept as is; 12% say it should remain on the market but be more restricted than it is now.
The drug is at the center of an escalating legal dispute. The Supreme Court preserved full access to mifepristone in April, putting on hold a lower court’s ruling that the Food and Drug Administration erred in making the drug more broadly available. This month, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 5th Circuit will consider the case brought by antiabortion groups against the FDA’s regulation of mifepristone, a decision that will almost surely be appealed to the Supreme Court.
Mifepristone is often taken in combination with misoprostol and is approved to at least some degree by 94 countries worldwide. The FDA has broadened access to mifepristone since it first approved it over 20 years ago, giving the go-ahead for at-home use.
Nearly a year after the Supreme Court overturned its 1973 Roe v. Wade decision, two-thirds of Americans say they oppose the decision to eliminate the constitutional right to an abortion, including 54% who oppose it “strongly.” Opinions have stayed consistent, with more than half saying they were strongly opposed in three Post-ABC polls taken since September 2022.
Strong opposition to the court’s decision overturning the right to have an abortion peaks among liberals (86%) and Democrats (82%). Strong opposition also extends to majorities of moderates (62%), women (61%) and independents (55%). And half of White Catholics strongly oppose the Supreme Court overturning Roe.
About 8 in 10 Americans say the decision on whether to have an abortion should be left to the woman and her doctor (78%), while about 2 in 10 (18%) say abortion should be regulated by law.
White evangelical Protestants are among the most supportive of the Supreme Court’s decision in Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization, which nullified the Roe ruling, with 58% in favor. About 4 in 10 White evangelicals say mifepristone should be taken off the market (41%), while 50% say it should remain on the market, including 16% who say it should be allowed but be more restricted. At the same time, 56% of White evangelical Protestants say decisions on whether to have an abortion should be left to the woman and her doctor.
Leaving the decision to have an abortion up to a pregnant person and their doctor is also a majority-held opinion across parties (including 58% of Republicans) and religious groups (including 74% of White Catholics).
On the whole, opinions on access to abortion medication are closely tied to their support for the Supreme Court’s decision last year eliminating a constitutional right to an abortion. About 8 in 10 Americans who oppose the Supreme Court’s Dobbs decision say mifepristone should remain on the market (81%), while 12% say it should be taken off. Among those who support the court’s decision overturning Roe, 53% say mifepristone should be taken off the market while 37% say it should remain for sale.
A similar majority of people who say decisions about abortion access “should be left to the woman and her doctor” say mifepristone should remain on the market (77%), compared with 28% among those who say abortion should be regulated by law.
A slim 51% majority of Americans say Supreme Court justices make decisions mainly “based on their personal political views,” while 39% say their cases are decided mainly “based on the law.” That marks a slight shift in views since before the Supreme Court overturned Roe, when Americans were roughly split on whether justices made decisions based on the law or their political viewpoint.
Attitudes about the Supreme Court’s decision to overturn the constitutional right to an abortion are closely tied to Americans’ skepticism that the court is impartial. More than half of those who say they approve of the court overturning the right to an abortion say they make their decisions based on the law (54%), while 59% of those who disapprove of the decision say they make case decisions based on their personal views.
This Washington Post-ABC News poll was conducted over the telephone April 28 through May 3 among a random national sample of 1,006 adults with an error margin of plus or minus 3.5 percentage points, with larger error margins among subgroups. In all, 75% of respondents were contacted by cellphone, while 25% were reached by landline.
Send questions/comments to the editors.
