[By more than two-to-one, Americans say medication abortion should
be legal in their state. ]
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AMERICANS SAY MEDICATION ABORTION SHOULD BE LEGAL  
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Hannah Hartig
April 11, 2023
Pew Research Center
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_ By more than two-to-one, Americans say medication abortion should
be legal in their state. _

, Pew Research Center

 

With the future of abortion pills in legal jeopardy, more Americans
say medication abortion should be legal than illegal in their state,
according to a new Pew Research Center survey. The survey –
conducted in the days before the conflicting court rulings
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on medication abortion by federal judges in Texas and Washington state
– also finds stark divides by age and partisanship in Americans’
views of the issue.

Overall, 53% of adults say medication abortion – that is, the use of
a prescription pill or a series of pills to end a pregnancy – should
be legal in their state, while fewer than half as many (22%) say it
should be illegal. About a quarter (24%) say they aren’t sure.

As is the case with views about the legality of abortion overall, the
Center survey, conducted from March 27 to April 2, finds that there
are wide partisan divides in views of abortion pills.

A majority of Democrats and Democratic-leaning independents (73%) say
medication abortion should be legal in their state, while fewer than
half as many Republicans and GOP leaners (35%) say the same.

Americans’ perceptions about the prevalence of medication abortions
in the U.S.

The survey also asked Americans, in an open-ended format, to estimate
the percentage of all abortions in the U.S. that are medication
abortions. In 2020, the most recent year with available data,
medication abortions accounted for 53% of all facility-based abortions
in the United States
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according to data from both the Centers for Disease Control and
Prevention and the Guttmacher Institute.

In the Center’s survey, about a third of adults estimate that 40% to
60% of abortions in the U.S. are medication abortions. About
four-in-ten say medication abortions make up less than 40% of all
abortions in the country. Roughly a quarter say they think medication
abortions account for more than 60% of all abortions.

About a third of Republicans (32%) and Democrats (33%) alike estimate
that medication abortions account for 40% to 60% of abortions in the
country. However, Republicans are somewhat more likely than Democrats
(46% vs. 36%) to estimate that medication abortions account for fewer
than 40% all abortions. Democrats, in turn, are more likely than
Republicans (29% vs. 19%) to say medication abortions account for 60%
or more of all abortions in the U.S.

Demographic differences in views of whether medication abortion should
be legal

Overall, younger adults are more likely than older Americans to say
medication abortion should be legal in their state. Two-thirds (66%)
of adults under 30 say abortion pills should be legal, compared with
half of adults 30 and older.

Opinions also vary by race and ethnicity. While majorities of White,
Black and Asian adults say abortion pills should be legal in their
state, views among Hispanic adults are slightly more mixed: 46% say
they should be legal, while 25% say they should be illegal and 29% are
not sure.

While there are stark partisan divides on the legality of medication
abortion, there are also sizable ideological gaps _within _the
parties.

Among Republicans and Republican-leaning independents, nearly half of
conservatives (47%) say medication abortion should be illegal in their
state, while 24% say it should be legal. But views among moderate and
liberal Republicans are the reverse: Half say it should be legal,
while 20% say it should be illegal.

While a majority of Democrats – regardless of ideology – say
abortion pills should be legal, liberal Democrats are particularly
likely to say this. Nearly nine-in-ten liberal Democrats (88%) say it
should be legal, compared with 59% of conservative and moderate
Democrats.

The survey, conducted prior to news of the court decisions issued
April 7, finds that 22% of Americans say they have heard a lot about
medication abortion. A majority (56%) have heard a little, while 21%
say they have heard nothing at all.

Among adults who said they’d heard or read a lot about medication
abortion, 72% say it should be legal. This compares with 55% of adults
who said they’d heard a little about medication abortion, and 30%
who said they had heard nothing at all about it.

Younger women are particularly likely to say medication abortion
should be legal in their state: 71% of women under 30 say this, while
just 12% say it should be illegal. By comparison, about half of women
30 and older (51%) say medication abortion should be legal in their
state.

There is a more modest age gap among men on this issue: Six-in-ten men
under 30 say medication abortion should be legal in their state,
compared with half of those 30 and older.

As is true with views of the legality of abortion overall
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there are large divides by religion in Americans’ views of abortion
pills. While Protestants overall offer mixed views about whether
medication abortion should be legal in their state, White evangelical
Protestants are about twice as likely to say it should be illegal than
legal (50% vs. 23%). In contrast, slight majorities of White
non-evangelical Protestants and Black Protestants say abortion pills
should be legal.

Catholics are more likely to say abortion medication should be legal
than illegal in their state (46% vs. 26%). Religiously unaffiliated
adults overwhelmingly say it should be legal (74%)._ (Note: This
analysis cannot report the views of Jews, Muslims, Buddhists, Hindus,
Orthodox Christians and other __smaller religious groups due_
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to sample size limitations.)_

_Note: Here are the questions used
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for the analysis and its methodology
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Hannah Hartig [[link removed]]  _is
a research associate focusing on U.S. politics and policy research at
Pew Research Center._

* abortion rights
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