Major takeaways from recent polling include:

• Support for contraception, including emergency contraception and over-the-counter birth control pills, is very high and bipartisan.

• There is strong support for economic access to contraception, particularly following the Supreme Court Dobbs decision. Support for insurance coverage for over-the-counter contraception is strong and bipartisan. 

• Voters across party lines do not condition their support for over-the-counter birth control with an age restriction.  

• Republicans are divided over whether physicians, pharmacists and others should be able to refuse to dispense or prescribe birth control based on religious or moral conviction.

• About a third of voters are confused about basic medical facts related to contraception, abortion and sexually transmitted infection. There is also significant confusion and misinformation about emergency contraception and abortion pills.

In Feb. 2024, Impact Research found that “birth control is extremely popular, including emergency contraception. Democrats, Independents and young voters rate both birth control and emergency contraception positively by wide margins.”

Source: Impact 2024

Source: Impact 2024

The popularity of contraception is acknowledged across the political spectrum.  Republican pollster Kellyanne Conway issued a poll analysis in December 2023, advising that:

• “Voters overwhelmingly agree that ‘women’s health issues’ are important, contraception will prevent unwanted pregnancies and protect the health of women, and contraception should be available to all women.”

• “9-in-10 agree contraceptives are a responsible means to prevent unintended pregnancy.”

• “Over 9-in-10 say women should be able to obtain whichever type of contraception she and her doctors believe is best for her.”

• “88% of voters reject the opinion, ‘using contraception is the same as getting an abortion.’ That includes 91% of women and 85% of Republicans who also reject that statement.”

A strong majority of U.S. adults, including Democrats, Republicans and Independents, believe that the most common forms of birth control should be legal in “all” or “most” cases, including emergency contraception, IUD’s, birth control pills, and condoms (FiveThirtyEight, June 2022). 

Source: ISOS, 2022

An Ipsos February 2024 poll found that strong, bipartisan majorities oppose their state banning emergency contraceptives:

Source: ISOS, 2024

A March 2024 poll by KFF found that many voters, especially Democrats, see the 2024 election as a “high-stakes election” for determining the future of access to contraception, as well as abortion.

• “About four in ten voters overall say the same about the perceived impact of the elections on access to contraception, though there are stark partisan divides on this outlook.” 

• “At least half of Democratic voters say they think the elections will have a ‘major impact’ on access to contraception, whereas three in ten or fewer Republican voters say the same.”

• “Less than half of adults say the right to use contraception is a ‘secure right.’”

About 72% of voters favor over-the-counter status for the birth control pill.  That number is even higher when focusing on reproductive aged women – 77%. 

Source: KFF, 2022

• 86% of U.S. adults believe IVF should be legal (CBS News Poll, Feb 2024)

• An impressive two-thirds of U.S. adults are opposed to “considering frozen embryos as people and holding those who destroy them legally responsible.” (Ipsos poll, Feb 2024) The same poll found that 45% of people are familiar with the Alabama ruling declaring frozen embryos have the same rights as people.

• Republicans expressed strong opposition for personhood for a fertilized egg (a fertilized egg, or zygote, exists prior to pregnancy or “implantation).  

A 2023 DFP poll found significant support for lawmakers increasing access to contraception:

Source: DFP, 2023

Support for insurance coverage for OTC products is strong

• Bipartisan majority support for coverage for OTC contraception.

• Democrats are much more enthusiastic than R’s and I’s.

• Support for insurance coverage for over-the-counter contraception increases by 4-6 points when the question is framed toward the benefit to users rather than the burden on insurers. 

Source: DFP, 2023

A 2023 KFF poll illustrated the “broad reach of health misinformation,” including false assertions about sex education as well as contraceptive side effects.

A 2022 KFF poll also illustrated significant public confusion about emergency contraception:

• 62% of U.S. adults who have heard of Plan B/the morning-after pill are aware that it is not the same as the abortion pill. 

• 73% of U.S. adults “incorrectly think that emergency contraceptive pills can end a pregnancy in its early stages. This includes two-thirds of women of childbearing age (18-49) who incorrectly say emergency contraceptive pills can end a pregnancy in its early stages.”

• There is widespread confusion about the legality of emergency contraception. “A third of adults (32%) say they are ‘unsure’ if emergency contraceptive pills, or ‘Plan B,’ are legal in their state or not, and five percent of adults incorrectly think emergency contraceptive pills are illegal in their state.”

• “Confusion is more widespread in states where abortions are currently banned, with more than half of people living in those states, including half of women, unaware that “Plan B” is still legal.”

Similarly, CAI’s August 2023 DFP poll demonstrated confusion and misunderstanding about reproductive health:

• Roughly a third of voters are confused or unsure about whether birth control pills – including emergency contraception – can protect against STIs. This is true across party lines.

• Just over a third of voters are confused about whether emergency contraception prevents pregnancy after unprotected sex.   

• The least confused are women (22%), under 45 (17%), Latino/a (22%) and college-educated (22%).  

• The most confused are over 45 (35%), men (36%), Republicans (34%), and Black or African American (33%). 

• Just over a third of voters are confused about whether abortion pills are used to end an existing pregnancy. 

• The least confused are Black or African American (27%) and college educated (30%).

• Democrats and Republicans are similarly confused, however Independents are much more confused.  

• This confusion is most pronounced among Latinx’s (39%), and Whites (32%).