While most individuals back the abortion pill, opinions are split regarding mail-in access
The public opinion poll showed that a majority supports access to abortion pills but is divided over mail-in access. Democrats largely favor mail-in access, while Republicans oppose it. The Biden administration sees telemedicine and by-mail sales as vital during COVID-19 and a way to improve healthcare access. Republicans express concerns about the safety of removing in-person screening requirements.
A majority of people support access to chemical abortion pills, but there is sharp division along partisan lines over by-mail access to the drugs, according to a public opinion poll published Friday.
An Axios-Ipsos poll found that 72% of respondents say they support women obtaining chemical abortion drugs directly from their physician or a clinic, with 45% saying they strongly support in-person access to the abortion pills mifepristone and misoprostol.
Access to abortion pills by mail, however, remains divided by party affiliation. Nearly three in four Democrats support the ability to obtain abortion pills through the mail, while nearly four in five Republicans oppose such access.
The poll comes shortly after the Supreme Court heard oral arguments in the case brought by the Alliance for Hippocratic Medicine against the Food and Drug Administration‘s deregulation of mifepristone.
In 2021, over 20 years after the original approval of the drug, the FDA removed in-person screening requirements for patients to obtain the drug, allowing patients to receive mifepristone by mail after getting a prescription via a telemedicine appointment with a doctor.
The Biden administration contends that telemedicine and by-mail sales of mifepristone were not only essential during the COVID-19 pandemic but also removed costly barriers to healthcare access, such as taking time off from work for an in-person appointment.
Republicans argue that the removal of in-person screening requirements before obtaining a mifepristone prescription leaves women vulnerable to dangerous complications due to mistaking the age of the pregnancy or failure to diagnose an ectopic pregnancy, a life-threatening condition.
Mifepristone works by blocking the progestin receptors for the developing fetus, resulting in fetal death. Misoprostol is taken between 24 and 48 hours after mifepristone to induce uterine contractions to expel the pregnancy tissue, including the fetus and placenta.
A majority of Republicans, 58%, support reverting regulations of abortion pills to pre-2021 approval, whereas only 41% of Democrats and 49% of independents would support in-person-only policies regulating mifepristone and misoprostol.
Only 44% of respondents reported that they were familiar with the case before the Supreme Court over the FDA’s approval of the drug, and only 15% responded that they were very familiar with the case.
The survey also found that there is strong support for the FDA’s credibility when it comes to the approval and regulation of medications in the United States.
Nearly 80% of people support the FDA having the ability to regulate the safety and efficacy of drugs on the market, and two-thirds say they trust the FDA “a great deal or a fair amount” about health information.
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Abortion remains a top concern for voters heading into the 2024 elections, with polling earlier this month finding that one in eight voters consider abortion policy their highest priority in selecting a candidate.
According to the Axios-Ipsos poll, 85% of Democrats and 61% of independents say a candidate who supported restricting abortion access would negatively influence their vote.
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