Republicans risk a “devastating” midterm turnout if the Trump administration ignores pro-life priorities, a new poll found.
Nearly a third of Republican voters would be less enthusiastic in 2026 if leaders abandon pro-life policies, according to a survey from the GOP polling firm Cygnal. The U.S. Food and Drug Administration’s (FDA) approval of a new generic abortion pill manufacturer and continuation of Biden-era rules allowing mail-order abortion drugs have sparked increasing tensions between the administration and pro-life Americans.
Thirty-seven percent of GOP voters categorized as “most engaged,” along with 45% of evangelicals, would be less likely to volunteer in general election campaigns.
The FDA quietly approved a new manufacturer, Evita Solutions, to sell the generic abortion pill in September. The agency also has not yet delivered on its promised mifepristone safety study.
“I think that this safety study is a dead end,” Republican Missouri Sen. Josh Hawley told Politico Feb. 11 after a closed-door briefing with FDA Commissioner Marty Makary. “I just think that FDA is not serious about it. I don’t think that they’re proceeding with any sense of urgency whatsoever. If they’re really proceeding at all. I frankly, can’t tell.”
Without speaking to a doctor to verify key eligibility requirements, women can easily order the pill “for future use” online, a DCNF investigation found.
Seventy-one percent of Republican voters “oppose [HHS Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s] decision to continue to allow the chemical abortion drug mifepristone to be prescribed online and mailed nationwide without any in-person consultation,” according to the poll.
The nationwide survey, which surveyed 1,000 likely Republican primary voters between Feb. 8-10, had a 3.10% margin of error.
Susan B. Anthony Pro-Life America President Marjorie Dannenfelser said during a press call Thursday that Kennedy could “immediately change” the situation by reinstating the in-person dispensing requirement for the abortion pill.
“You cannot win without your base,” Dannenfelser said. “The abortion drug problem is an electoral problem in addition to a moral problem in our nation.”
Nearly 10% of House lawmakers will not be running for reelection in 2026, with Republicans leading Democrats in retirement announcements, according to data compiled by The Downballot. Republicans currently hold a thin majority, with 218 seats to the Democrats’ 213.
At the same time, most Republicans are unaware abortions increased after Roe v. Wade was overturned, according to the survey.
Only one in five Republican primary voters know the Supreme Court’s 2022 Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization decision did not decrease abortions. Still, 73% found it concerning when informed the number rose to 1.1 million annually, a number reported by the WeCount project in 2024.
One in four abortions were conducted via telehealth by the end of 2024, according to the WeCount project. In 2020, the Guttmacher Institute reported 930,160 total abortions.
“Republican voters likely expected that Dobbs would lead to fewer abortions and certainly expected that the leaders around President Trump would work hard to extend pro-life protections everywhere possible in the federal government,” a survey memo states. “Instead, under Secretary Kennedy, HHS is actively facilitating access to the chemical abortion drug mifepristone.”
Louisiana is suing the FDA for the restoration of abortion pill safeguards.
“Approval of mifepristone-by-mail increased the number of abortions Louisiana residents obtained—even after Louisiana’s abortion prohibition (with narrow exceptions) took effect,” the lawsuit notes. There were 3,805 abortions in 2020, while the number increased to 4,180 in 2023, according to the lawsuit.
Trump’s Department of Justice (DOJ) urged a federal judge in January to put the case on hold while the FDA conducts its review.
President Donald Trump suggested in January Republicans should be “flexible” on the Hyde Amendment, which bans taxpayer fundings for abortions. After his comments garnered pushback, Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt noted Trump “signed an executive order protecting the Hyde Amendment” and “has taken multiple actions on various fronts to ensure that taxpayer dollars are not funding the practice of abortion.”
Seventy-nine percent of Republican primary voters say the Hyde Amendment is important, while 30% would be less enthusiastic to vote if support for it was dropped, the Cygnal poll revealed.
Ahead of the March for Life in January, the administration announced several new pro-life policies, including an end to funding for fetal tissue research, an expansion of the Mexico City policy that restricts foreign aid funds from promoting abortion and an investigation into whether Planned Parenthood illegally received over $88 million in COVID-19 loans from the Small Business Administration.
Vice President J.D. Vance told pro-lifers who fear the administration is not moving fast enough that he hears them and “understand[s] there will inevitably be debates within this movement.”
“We love each other, and we’re going to have open conversations about how best to use our political system to advance life, how prudential we must be in the cause of advancing human life,” he said during his remarks at the March for Life. “I think these are good, honest and natural debates. And frankly, they’re not just good for all of you. They help keep people like me honest, and that’s an important thing.”
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