KFF Health Tracking Poll: Mifepristone and the Midterms

Key Takeaways

• The latest KFF Health Tracking Poll finds that though a majority of the public has heard of the abortion medication mifepristone, public awareness of its prevalence and longstanding safety record is limited. Six in ten adults say they have heard of mifepristone, but just one in four (26%) correctly identify abortion pills as the most common way abortions are administered in the U.S. Additionally, while about four in ten (44%) adults say abortion pills are safe when taken according to a health care provider’s instruction, one in seven (15%) say they are unsafe and four in ten (41%) are unsure of their safety.
• The FDA’s re-evaluation of the safety of mifepristone is now underway, following Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s call to the federal health agency late last year. Public confidence in the FDA to make decisions based on science when reviewing the safety of mifepristone is somewhat limited as slightly more than half (54%) say they have little to no confidence at all in this regard. Partisans differ over the motivation behind the review, with a majority of Republicans saying it was mostly to protect the health and safety of women and a similar majority of Democrats saying it was to make abortion pills more difficult to access.
• Majorities of the public oppose laws restricting medication abortion, though Republicans lean more in support. Two-thirds of the public – including large majorities of Democrats and independents – oppose laws that would ban mifepristone nationwide (65%) and laws that would make it a crime for health care providers to mail abortion pills to patients in states with abortion bans (64%).  Republicans are notably split on the issue of banning mifepristone nationwide (52% support, 48% oppose), while a majority (57%) of Republicans support laws criminalizing health care providers mailing abortion pills to patients in states with abortion bans.
• While health costs and the future of government health programs are key health issues for voters in the upcoming midterm elections, a majority of voters (57%) say it is “extremely” or “very important” for candidates to discuss abortion policy. Since the Dobbs decision, abortion policy remains a core issue for Democratic voters. Four in ten Democratic voters say abortion policy is “extremely important” for 2026 midterm candidates to talk about, compared to fewer independent (22%) and Republican (20%) voters. The Democratic Party has the advantage over the Republican Party when it comes to which political party voters trust more on the issue of abortion (39% vs. 28%, respectively), though nearly three in ten (27%) voters say they trust neither party on this issue. Among independent voters, the Democratic Party has the edge over the Republican Party (35% vs. 19%), though four in ten say they trust neither party on the issue.

Sizeable Shares of the Public Are Unaware of Mifepristone’s Prevalence and Safety

Mifepristone, commonly known as the abortion pill, is one of two drugs that are used in medication abortion, the most common abortion method in the United States. While mifepristone has been approved by the FDA for over 25 years and has a longstanding safety record, Congressional Republicans and anti-abortion groups continue to call into question the safety of the abortion pill. The latest KFF Health Tracking Poll finds six in ten (60%) adults have heard of the abortion medication mifepristone, including two-thirds (66%) of women of reproductive age (ages 18 to 49). Public awareness of mifepristone has risen sharply since the overturning of Roe v. Wade and the lawsuits and public scrutiny of the abortion pill that followed, increasing from 31% in January 2023 to about six in ten since then.

Despite increased awareness of mifepristone, the public is still largely unaware that most abortions in the U.S. are done by taking abortion pills. About one-quarter of adults (26%) correctly identify abortion pills as the most common way abortions are administered in the United States, while another quarter (26%) incorrectly say medical procedures are the most common, and nearly half (48%) say they are not sure. Democrats, independents, women of reproductive age, and adults who identify as “pro-choice” are most likely to correctly say most abortions in the U.S. are done using abortion pills. Yet, even among these groups, about half say they are not sure how most abortions in the U.S. are provided.

A large share of the public is unaware of the abortion medication’s longstanding safety record. Less than half (44%) of adults say abortion pills are safe when taken according to a health care provider’s instruction, about three times larger than the share who say they are unsafe (15%). Still, four in ten (41%) adults are “not sure” about the safety of abortion pills when administered according to a health care provider’s instruction.

Similar shares of adults overall say abortion pills are safe compared to last year (42% in November 2025). Among women ages 18 to 49, the group who would be most directly impacted by changes to the availability of mifepristone, about half (52%) say abortion pills are safe when taken as directed by a health care provider, a share that has increased from four in ten (41%) last November. Currently, one in five (19%) women ages 18-49 say they are not safe and three in ten are not sure of their safety.

Looking at women across racial and ethnic groups, Black women are less likely than White women to say abortion pills are safe (33% vs. 51%) and more likely than White women to say they are unsure how safe they are (51% vs. 35%). Among Hispanic women, about four in ten (42%) say abortion pills are safe, while a similar share (41%) say they are unsure.

Partisans differ in their assessment of the safety of mifepristone, with about six in ten Democrats (61%) saying medication abortion pills are “very” or “somewhat safe,” compared to about four in ten (44%) independents and three in ten Republicans. Larger shares of independents (42%) and Republicans (50%) than Democrats (30%) say they are not sure whether abortion pills are safe.

Public Divides Over Motives Behind FDA Review of Mifepristone and the Agency’s Ability To Conduct a Scientific Review

Last September, Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. and the FDA Commissioner at the time—Dr. Marty Makary—wrote to Republican state attorneys general in response to states’ concerns about mifepristone, announcing the FDA would conduct another review of the abortion pill’s safety. This new review has now begun and FDA officials are investigating whether the abortion pill’s current Risk Evaluation and Mitigation Strategy (REMS) is “sufficient to protect women from unstated risks” following the 2023 update that removed the in-person dispensing requirement and therefore made the drug accessible through telehealth. Depending on the safety review’s conclusions, the FDA could restrict mifepristone access, potentially limiting its availability through telehealth and mail, limiting the ability of advance practice clinicians from prescribing the medication, or removing pharmacies as authorized dispensers.

The latest KFF Health Tracking Poll finds a slim majority (54%) of the public has little to no confidence in the FDA to make decisions based on science when it comes to reviewing the abortion pill’s safety—including one in four (24%) who say they have no confidence “at all.” Fewer than half (46%) have “a lot” (10%) or “some” (36%) confidence. Among women of reproductive age, about half (52%) say they have little to no confidence, while 47% say they have at least some confidence. This limited trust is consistent with KFF’s Health Information and Trust research, which has found less than half of adults have confidence in the FDA’s ability to fulfill core responsibilities, such as making recommendations about childhood vaccine schedules and ensuring the safety and effectiveness of vaccines.

Across partisans, about half of Democrats and Republicans say they have little or no confidence (47% of Democrats; 53% of Republicans) in the FDA to make decisions based on science when evaluating the safety of mifepristone and similar shares say they have least some confidence (53% of Democrats; 47% of Republicans). Among independents, most (57%) say they have little to no confidence at all in the FDA in this regard.

When asked about the motivation behind Secretary Kennedy’s request to the FDA to review the safety of the abortion pill, the public is split, with half (51%) saying this decision was mostly to “make it more difficult to access abortion pills,” and another half (48%) saying it was mostly to “protect the health and safety of women.”

Notably, Democrats are more likely to say the reasoning behind Kennedy’s request was to “make it more difficult to access abortion pills” (71%), while Republicans are more likely to say it was to “protect the health and safety of women” (73%). Independents are split with about half saying the decision was to make abortion access more difficult (53%) and half saying it was to protect women’s safety (47%).

Women ages 18 to 49 are also divided on the motivation behind Secretary Kennedy’s request, with about half saying his call to review mifepristone was to “make it more difficult to access abortion pills” (55%) and another half saying it was to “protect the health and safety of women” (45%).

The latest KFF Health Tracking Poll finds majorities oppose laws that would place further restrictions on medication abortion. Around two-thirds of adults say they oppose banning the use of mifepristone, or medication abortion, nationwide (65%) and a similar share oppose making it a crime for health care providers to mail abortion pills to patients in states where abortion is banned (64%).

Eight in ten Democrats (81%) and two-thirds of independents (67%) say they oppose banning mifepristone entirely. However, Republicans are split in their views, with half (52%) saying they support laws that would ban the abortion pill nationwide while a similar share (48%) say they are opposed. And, while large majorities of Democrats (79%) and independents (66%) oppose laws making it a crime to mail abortion pills to patients in states with abortion bans, a majority (57%) of Republicans support such laws while 43% are opposed.

Unsurprisingly, about eight in ten adults who identify as pro-choice oppose the restrictive abortion laws asked about in this KFF Health Tracking Poll (78% banning mifepristone; 79% criminalizing the mailing of abortion pills to patients in states with abortion bans). Among those who identify as pro-life, majorities say they support these laws (57% and 61%, respectively), though sizeable shares—about four in ten—say they would oppose laws banning mifepristone nationwide (43%) and criminalizing the mailing of abortion pills to abortion-banned states (38%).

Voters’ Attitudes Toward Abortion in the Upcoming Midterm Elections

While health costs and the future of government health programs such as Medicare and Medicaid are the health issues taking center stage in this election, a majority of voters (57%) say it is “extremely” (27%) or “very important” (31%) for candidates to talk about abortion policy. Looking at voters by views on abortion, slightly larger shares of pro-choice voters say abortion is extremely important for 2026 midterm candidates to discuss compared to their pro-life counterparts (30% vs. 22%).

Previous election-related polling at KFF has found that, since the Dobbs decision, voters who view abortion policy as an important issue are disproportionately Democrats, and this election is no exception. Three-quarters (73%) of Democratic voters say abortion policy is important for 2026 midterm candidates to talk about, including four in ten who say it is “extremely important.” Notably, the share who say abortion policy is “extremely important” is consistent among Democratic voters, regardless of whether those voters live in states where abortion is either banned or limited (40%) or where abortion is available (39%). In contrast, fewer independent (22%) and Republican (20%) voters say abortion policy is extremely important for midterm candidates to discuss.

Among Republican and Republican-leaning independent voters who support the Make America Great Again movement, nearly one in four (23%) say abortion policy is extremely important for candidates to discuss, compared to one in ten (11%) non-MAGA-supporting Republicans and Republican-leaning independents who say the same. About two-thirds of MAGA Republicans identify as pro-life (63%), while about four in ten (44%) non-MAGA supporting Republicans identify as pro-choice.

The Democratic Party has the advantage over Republicans when it comes to which political party voters trust more on the issue of abortion (39% vs. 28%, respectively), though nearly three in ten (27%) voters say they trust neither party on this issue. Women voters ages 18 to 49 and younger voters (ages 18 to 29) are notably among the most likely to trust the Democratic Party more (46% and 52%, respectively).

Unsurprisingly, voters are largely split across partisan identification when it comes to which political party they trust more on the issue of abortion. Among independent voters, the Democratic Party has the edge over the Republican Party (35% vs. 19%), though four in ten (41%) say they trust neither party on the issue.

This KFF Health Tracking Poll/KFF Tracking Poll on Health Information and Trust was designed and analyzed by public opinion researchers at KFF. The survey was conducted June 25 – June 30, 2026, online and by telephone among a nationally representative sample of 1,321 U.S. adults in English (n=1,238) and in Spanish (n=83). The sample includes 1,015 adults (n=69 in Spanish) reached through the SSRS Opinion Panel either online (n=990) or over the phone (n=25). The SSRS Opinion Panel is a nationally representative probability-based panel where panel members are recruited randomly in one of two ways: (a) Through invitations mailed to respondents randomly sampled from an Address-Based Sample (ABS) provided by Marketing Systems Groups (MSG) through the U.S. Postal Service’s Computerized Delivery Sequence (CDS); (b) from a dual-frame random digit dial (RDD) sample provided by MSG. For the online panel component, invitations were sent to panel members by email followed by up to three reminder emails.

Another 306 (n=14 in Spanish) adults were reached through random digit dial telephone sample of prepaid cell phone numbers obtained through MSG. Phone numbers used for the prepaid cell phone component were randomly generated from a cell phone sampling frame with disproportionate stratification aimed at reaching Hispanic and non-Hispanic Black respondents. Stratification was based on incidence of the race/ethnicity groups within each frame. Among this prepaid cell phone component, 142 were interviewed by phone and 164 were invited to the web survey via short message service (SMS).

Respondents in the prepaid cell phone sample who were interviewed by phone received a $15 incentive via a check received by mail or an electronic gift card incentive. Respondents in the prepaid cell phone sample reached via SMS received a $10 electronic gift card incentive. SSRS Opinion Panel respondents received a $5 electronic gift card incentive (some harder-to-reach groups received a $10 electronic gift card). In order to ensure data quality, cases were removed if they failed two or more quality checks: (1) attention check questions in the online version of the questionnaire, (2) had over 30% item non-response, or (3) had a length less than one quarter of the mean length by mode. Based on this criterion, 1 case was removed.

The combined cell phone and panel samples were weighted to match the sample’s demographics to the national U.S. adult population using data from the Census Bureau’s 2025 Current Population Survey (CPS), September 2023 Volunteering and Civic Life Supplement data from the CPS, and the 2026 KFF Benchmarking Survey with ABS and prepaid cell phone samples. The demographic variables included in weighting for the general population sample are gender, age, education, race/ethnicity, region, civic engagement, frequency of internet use and political party identification. The weights account for differences in the probability of selection for each sample type (prepaid cell phone and panel). This includes adjustment for the sample design and geographic stratification of the cell phone sample, within household probability of selection, and the design of the panel-recruitment procedure.

The margin of sampling error including the design effect for the full sample is plus or minus 3 percentage points. Numbers of respondents and margins of sampling error for key subgroups are shown in the table below. For results based on other subgroups, the margin of sampling error may be higher. Sample sizes and margins of sampling error for other subgroups are available on request. Sampling error is only one of many potential sources of error and there may be other unmeasured error in this or any other public opinion poll. KFF public opinion and survey research is a charter member of the Transparency Initiative of the American Association for Public Opinion Research.