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More than 60% of Americans said that they would not support a ban on chemical abortions following the Supreme Court’s decision to override a lower court’s temporary halt on the production of the pills, according to a Monday Marist poll.
The Supreme Court ordered in a 7-2 ruling Friday that the abortion pill mifepristone will remain available for Americans for the duration of a lawsuit arguing that the Food and Drug Administration’s (FDA) allegedly hasty approval of the pill had caused severe harm. Americans appeared to echo the court’s sentiments in a new Marist poll that found 64% opposed a ban on chemical abortions.
“Nearly two in three Americans (64%) oppose a law which bans access to a medication abortion, that is, the use of a prescription pill or series of pills to end a pregnancy,” the poll explained.
The split was more telling along party lines with Democrats opposing a ban at 73%, Independents at 57% and Republicans at 55%, according to the poll.
A majority of voters also indicated that they “do not think federal judges should be able to overturn the FDA’s approval of a prescription drug” at 61%, according to the poll. A majority of Republicans, 51%, said that they believed federal courts should be able to rein in the FDA when necessary.
The Supreme Court’s decision came after the American Association of Pro-Life Obstetricians and Gynecologists (AAPLOG) filed a lawsuit against the FDA, arguing that the agency had “eliminated necessary safeguards” in its rushed attempts to approve mifepristone. A Texas judge ruled that AAPLOG had “credibly alleged past and future harm” and ordered the agency to reverse its approval of the drug until the lawsuit had concluded.
Following the Supreme Court’s reversal of the Texas decision, however, only 37% of Americans indicated that they had confidence in the justices’ abilities, according to the poll. This is the lowest approval rating the court has seen since 2018 by 22%.
“The Supreme Court’s decision on medication abortion comes at a critical time for the Court as an institution,” Lee M. Miringoff, director of the Marist Institute for Public Opinion, said in the poll. “With Americans’ confidence in the Court on a decline, the Court’s decision will likely fuel the flames of debate and not squelch them.”
The survey was conducted from April 17 to April 19 with 1,291 of adults 18 and older participating, according to the poll and the results were determined to be “statistically significant within ±3.4 percentage points.”
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