KFF Poll Shows Fewer than Half of the Public Are Aware of Abortion Pill Mifepristone’s Prevalence or Safety
In September, Health and Human Services (HHS) Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. and U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) Commissioner Marty Makary announced the FDA would be reviewing the safety of the abortion pill mifepristone, which was first approved by the FDA twenty-five years ago and has a long and well documented safety record.
KFF’s latest Health Tracking Poll finds that about half (53%) of the public have heard of mifepristone, but many are unaware of how often the medication is used and are unaware of its established safety record. The public is largely unaware that most abortions in the U.S. are done by taking abortion pills, with about one in four (24%) adults correctly saying that most abortions in the U.S. are medication abortions, three in ten (29%) saying most abortions are done via medical procedure, and about half (47%) saying they’re not sure.
When it comes to safety, about four in ten (42%) adults say abortion pills are “very” or “somewhat safe” when taken as directed by a doctor, about twice the share who say they are “very” or “somewhat unsafe” (18%), while another four in ten say they are not sure. Views of the abortion pill’s safety are similar among women ages 18 to 49. Perceptions of the pill’s safety, however, differ dramatically by partisanship. While nearly two-thirds (63%) of Democrats and four in ten independents correctly say abortion pills are safe when taken as directed by a doctor, just a quarter (26%) of Republicans agree.
Public perception of the abortion pill’s safety has waned in the past few years, including among women of reproductive age. About four in ten (42%) adults now say abortion pills are safe when taken as directed compared to just over half (55%) who said the same in May 2023. Among women ages 18 to 49, fewer than half (41%) now view the abortion pill as safe, an 18-percentage point drop from 2023 when a majority (59%) said the pills were safe.
