(LifeSiteNews) — The vast majority of Republican voters are unaware that abortions have actually increased since Roe v. Wade was overturned, but pro-lifers paying attention are less enthusiastic about turning out to vote, according to a new poll.
Thirteen states ban most abortions starting at conception; another five ban it at around six weeks, with additional states imposing a range of later restrictions. However, the abortion industry has dramatically expanded the use of mail-order abortion pills across state lines, bolstered by the Trump administration declining to undo former President Joe Biden’s refusal to enforce federal law against mailing abortion pills across state lines and removal of their in-person dispensing requirement.
That has made mail-order pills the abortion lobby’s most potent tool for preserving abortion without Roe. The latest data from the pro-abortion Guttmacher Institute reported 1,125,930 abortions committed by clinicians in 2025, a slight increase from 2024, which Guttmacher attributed in large part to abortion pills. Planned Parenthood’s 2024–2025 annual report says that it alone committed 434,450 abortions, a record number for the organization and eight percent more than the previous year.
On Monday, the Washington Stand reported that Family Research Council (FRC) has commissioned a new poll from Cygnal which found just 20 percent of Republican voters were aware that abortions have increased since the 2022 Dobbs ruling that overturned Roe, while follow-up questions revealed that the information significantly affected those who were.
“What we found when we asked a follow up question and we framed the FDA policy, which allows chemical abortion drugs to be mailed into states without in-person physician oversight. We asked, ‘Does that make you more or less likely to vote for a Republican in the midterm election?’ And we found that 6% of Republicans voters said that they would be less likely to vote for a Republican candidate in the November midterm election after hearing that news,” said Cygnal senior partner and pollster John Rogers. “It’s kind of a troubling sign for the GOP when they’re in an electorate in a midterm election, where the generic ballot right now is D+5 favoring the Democratic Party.”
“[W]e found when you compare to the beginning of President Trump’s second term, right after the inauguration last year, in February of 2025. [When] you compare Catholics then until now, they have fallen off in the generic ballot for Republicans by eight points,” including a 15-percent drop in support for President Trump, he added, noting there is a 13-point gap between Democrats (82 percent) and Republicans (69 percent) who were “extremely motivated” to vote in this fall’s midterm congressional elections. “And when you’re facing a tough midterm election where the generic ballot already favors the Democrats D+5, you’ve got to make sure that all of your base is there and that they’re matching the enthusiasm on the Democrat side, and we’re not seeing that yet.”
The federal status quo on abortion pills may change, but likely not before the midterms. Pro-lifers are currently waiting to see how the courts will rule on legal challenges to the federal government’s lax abortion pill regulations before a long-promised Trump administration review of the data on abortion pill harms is finally released.
The Wall Street Journal reported at the beginning of June that administration officials said the review was “expected to take about six months,” meaning the results and any ensuing policy changes would not come until after November, lending credence to allegations and speculation that the administration was intentionally foot-dragging so as to prevent the eventual findings from influencing “moderate” voters this fall. But according to FRC and Cygnal’s findings, the result could backfire by depressing turnout among the base.
As for the political landscape, Trump-backed candidates continue to sweep the board in Republican primaries, indicating that, while the president continues to struggle with an overall 57.4 percent job disapproval rating and widespread discontent with his handling of issues such as abortion pills, federal spending, tariffs, the Iran war, and deportations, rank-and-file voters within the GOP are still overwhelmingly devoted to him.
The ultimate question remains how that dominance translates to the general electorate. RaceToTheWH currently projects Republicans to just barely hold the Senate and Democrats to take the House of Representatives.