October 2026 – Fact Sheet
by Guttmacher Institute
In recent years, anti‑abortion advocates have relentlessly promoted false claims about the safety of medication abortion. In particular, they have distorted routine follow-up care, seizing upon the fact that people frequently seek medical care during or after a medication abortion. Like the broader attacks on mifepristone, one of the two drugs used in the most common medication abortion regimen, these narratives often rely on cherry-picked data, faulty methodologies that misclassify expected symptoms as complications, and exaggerated claims about emergency department care—tactics designed to undermine medication abortion access rather than reflect patients’ real experiences.
While most people safely and comfortably manage their medication abortions at home, seeking in-person care is also a common part of the process for many people. This fact sheet situates care‑seeking within medication abortion’s established record of safety and efficacy, providing data to help explain and contextualize care-seeking behaviors, counter misinformation, and support patient‑centred care.
Southerners are misrepresented on abortion
A majority of voters in the Deep South disagree with their states’ extreme restrictions, highlighting the disconnect between the public and the legislators who represent them.
In 2022, the Supreme Court revoked the constitutional right to an abortion in Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization, allowing states to control their own reproductive health policies. Since then, Southern legislatures have passed rigid limits on abortion and other forms of reproductive health care. At the same time, doctors now must weigh the possibility of felony charges when administering life-saving care. In Georgia, the Maternal Mortality Review Committee reportedly found that two pregnant Black women had died for lack of appropriate care.
As Southern legislators continue to push for more restrictive measures, we investigated whether the post-Dobbs abortion bans they have already enacted are consistent with their constituents’ views. They are not. Surveys indicate that Southern voters largely do not support the abortion policies in their states. That is especially true of the five states that make up the Deep South — Alabama, Georgia, Louisiana, Mississippi, and South Carolina — all of which either ban abortion outright or prohibit it beyond six weeks, making it effectively unavailable.
SOURCE: Chelsea Jones, Samyu Comandur. Brennan Center, https://www.brennancenter.org/our-work/research-reports/southerners-are-misrepresented-abortion, 7 October 2026.