(LifeSiteNews) — Federal inaction on abortion risks depressing Republican enthusiasm ahead of this year’s midterm congressional elections, according to a new poll commissioned by Susan B. Anthony Pro-Life America.
The survey, conducted by Cygnal of 1,000 “likely Republican primary election voters nationwide,” first found the fundamental pro-life character of Republican voters essentially unchanged despite the party’s changes in recent years. Seventy-four percent said a candidate’s position on abortion was important to them, 75 percent want Republicans in Congress to “aggressively oversee” the U.S. Department of Health & Human Services’ (HHS’s) handling of abortion, and 86 percent oppose federal taxpayer funding of abortion.
It also found the vast majority of respondents unaware that abortions have actually increased since the overturn of Roe v. Wade thanks to the expanded use of abortion pills, but highly concerned when informed, leading to concern about the handling of the issue in President Donald Trump’s more populist GOP.
Trump established a consistently pro-life record in his first term, which ended with a hotly-disputed loss to Joe Biden in 2020, but began to turn after the 2022 midterm elections, in which he attempted to blame the abortion issue for GOP underperformance. During his 2024 run, he changed further still, ruling out a federal abortion ban in favor of leaving the issue to the states, and changing the Republican Party platform’s longstanding pro-life language to reflect that preference.
He also declared he would not reverse Biden’s refusal to enforce federal law against mailing abortion pills across state lines, despite the tactic undermining state pro-life laws. Pro-lifers were given hope in May 2025 that the White House’s position might change when HHS Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. (another formerly pro-abortion figure who “moderated” during his own presidential bid) promised a “complete review” of the medical risks of abortion pills, though no conclusions or timetable have since been announced, leading some senators to question if it’s even happening.
Such moves were originally billed as helping Republicans appeal to more moderate voters, but the Cygnal poll indicates that it is putting the party’s existing voters at risk. Seventy-one percent of respondents oppose allowing mifepristone to be dispensed by mail, including 77 percent of self-described Trump Republicans and 76 percent of self-described “Make America Healthy Again” (MAHA) Republicans.
Most politically concerning, 34 percent said Republicans weakening or abandoning pro-life policies would make them feel less enthusiastic about voting in the midterms and less willing to volunteer for candidates or campaigns. Forty-five percent of evangelicals would also be less willing to volunteer.
With Trump’s approval ratings struggling and Republicans projected to lose the House of Representatives and only narrowly retain the Senate, even a modest decline in enthusiasm could be devastating in close congressional races.
“The national data show a significant disconnect between base Republican voter expectations and current federal actions, creating real enthusiasm risks for the November midterm general election,” Cygnal pollster John Rogers says. “The national data make clear that self-identified MAHA Republicans (69% of primary voters) do not regard abortion access as part of the Make America Healthy Again promise.”
The abortion industry has increasingly relied on abortion pills since the fall of Roe v. Wade, despite the risks they pose to women. An April 2025 analysis by the Ethics & Public Policy Center (EPPC) concluded that almost 11 percent of women suffer sepsis, infection, hemorrhaging, or other major conditions after taking mifepristone, according to insurance data. That and similar findings by the Restoration of America Foundation are part of a “growing body of evidence indicating that the health risks associated with mifepristone abortions are severe, widespread, and significantly underreported.”
