A new Reuters/Ipsos poll has found that Americans are divided on the rules surrounding the dispensing of the abortion pill as well as other abortion-related issues. The findings come as the Supreme Court prepares to rule next month on two abortion-related cases. The survey was conducted May 7-14 and gathered responses from 3,934 U.S. adults.
Abortion pill dispensing
Half (50%) of respondents said they are in support of a required in-person doctor visit before a woman is prescribed the abortion pill. Thirty-three percent (33%) of respondents said they opposed such a safety requirement.
When broken down into political parties, 67% of Republicans said they favor the requirement, while just 37% of Democrats did.
The abortion pill regimen consists of two drugs: mifepristone and misoprostol. Mifepristone blocks the naturally occurring pregnancy hormone progesterone, causing the uterine wall to break down and depriving the developing child of oxygen and nutrients. Misoprostol, taken 24-48 hours later, causes contractions to expel the baby.
The U.S. FDA approved mifepristone for use to cause abortions through seven weeks of pregnancy in the year 2000. In 2011, mifepristone was placed under REMS safety guidelines but not before multiple women died in association with the use of the abortion pill regimen. Those safety regulations included the requirement that women or teen girls take mifepristone in person, in front of a clinician at the location of a certified prescriber.
In 2016, the Obama administration FDA removed the requirement that mifepristone be taken in the presence of the clinician. In 2021, the Biden administration further weakened the safety rule during the COVID-19 pandemic by eliminating the in-person dispensing requirement and allowing the abortion pill to be shipped through the mail.
Following those decisions, in 2022, Alliance Defending Freedom filed a federal lawsuit on behalf of the Alliance for Hippocratic Medicine. The Supreme Court took up the case and is considering whether to restore some of the safety standards that were removed on mifepristone. It will rule on the case next month.
Abortion in emergencies
In addition to being asked about abortion pill dispensing rules, respondents to the poll were asked if they support requiring states with pro-life laws to permit abortion when necessary to protect the health of a pregnant woman in a medical emergency (with the term “health” remaining undefined). Induced abortion — the direct and intentional killing of a preborn child in the womb — is not necessary in an emergency. If a pregnancy must end to save the life of the mother, the baby can be delivered, and doctors can work to save her life as well. This is not considered an abortion even if the child does not survive, because the intent of the preterm delivery was not to cause the child’s death.
Seventy-seven percent (77%) of poll respondents said they support such a law requiring that pro-life states allow abortion to save the mother’s health. That includes 86% of Democrats and 77% of Republicans, signifying a misunderstanding among Americans as to what is legally considered an abortion.
The Supreme Court is set to rule in June on an Idaho case concerning this matter. In Idaho v. United States, Idaho is challenging the federal Emergency Medical Treatment and Labor Act (EMTALA), which states that all hospitals receiving federal Medicare funds provide stabilizing treatment to patients in the emergency room during a medical emergency.
Biden’s Department of Justice claims that women’s lives will be at risk if emergency room doctors cannot commit abortions, however, induced abortion (in which a child is intentionally killed) is not a medically necessary procedure. Preterm delivery, in which the pregnancy is ended but not with the intent of causing the death of the child, is not considered an induced abortion and is legal, even if the child dies as a result of prematurity.
The Supreme Court will decide if Idaho emergency room doctors are required to intentionally kill preborn children, despite the state’s law protecting children from abortion unless the mother’s life is in immediate danger.
See the full poll here.
