News

For Immediate Release
March 19, 2026

Media Contact: [email protected]

Washington, D.C. –

Today, Center Forward released a national survey, conducted by Echelon Insights and Impact Research, of 1,206 registered voters examining Americans’ views on the state of women’s health care. The results indicate strong bipartisan agreement that women’s health care deserves greater attention and that policymakers should work to increase access to a range of services critical to women.

Voters across the spectrum emphasized the importance of ensuring women can receive critical health services, including cancer screenings, prenatal and postpartum care, gynecological and cardiovascular services, as well as support for diabetes and weight management. Among those polled, women are 4 points more likely than men to say they have a hard time finding quality health care. This is especially true in rural areas, where women are 7 points more likely than men to say so.

In addition, a strong majority of voters say policymakers should safeguard access to both birth control and over-the-counter (OTC) emergency contraception. 81% of voters say it is very or somewhat important for policymakers to ensure women have access to OTC emergency contraception, reflecting agreement that women should be able to obtain this medicine when necessary.

“Protecting access to critical health care services for women transcends party affiliations,”  said Cori Kramer, CEO of Center Forward. “These poll results prove that voters want policymakers to focus on making sure women can receive the many different kinds of care they need.”

“Voters agree that women have unique health needs and deserve a health care system that does a better job addressing their needs. From cancer screenings to cardiovascular health, from pre-natal and postpartum care to menopause, belief that women’s health is important crosses party lines,” said Kristen Soltis Anderson, Founding Partner of Echelon Insights.

“Voters in this survey are incredibly clear – overwhelmingly they want policymakers focused on making sure women’s unique health needs are met. From cancer screenings to prenatal care and care for cardio and gynecological health, policymakers need to elevate women’s health issues across the spectrum,” said Molly Murphy, President of Impact Research.

Furthermore, the survey makes it clear that many Americans feel that policymakers should consider these different life stages when shaping health policies, ensuring women receive targeted support throughout their everyday lives.

View full survey results here.

Some key highlights from the latest research poll include:

• Voters believe that it is important to ensure women have access to key women’s health services – but feel the system today is not doing a good job meeting the health needs of women.
  • Only 25% of voters believe the system does a very good or good job meeting the health needs of women.
  • 9-in-10 voters, including 89% of Republicans and 95% of Democrats, agree that women have unique health needs that deserve specific attention.
• More than two-thirds of voters believe that it is very important for policymakers to ensure women have access to things like screenings for cancers specific to women (81%), prenatal care (78%), gynecological care (77%), care for cardio health (77%), care for postpartum (72%), diabetes care and weight management (68%).
• Most voters (71%) feel that it should be easy for women to access over-the-counter emergency contraception.
• Nearly three-quarters (72%) of voters would like policymakers to protect access to birth control, including over-the-counter emergency contraception.

###

Center Forward brings together members of Congress, not-for-profits, academic experts, trade associations, corporations and unions to put aside the partisan bickering that has gridlocked Washington and find common ground. Center Forward gives centrist allies the information they need to craft common-sense solutions to the serious issues facing the country, and provides those allies the support they need to turn those ideas into results.

Survey Methodology: Echelon Insights and Impact Research conducted an online survey on behalf of Center Forward from January 12–16, 2026, among 1,206 registered voters in the likely 2026 electorate nationwide. Respondents were drawn from the Lucid sample exchange and matched to the L2 voter file to verify registration. The survey was weighted to reflect turnout and demographic characteristics of the expected 2026 electorate. The margin of error is ±3.2 percentage points.

To learn more about Center Forward, visit www.center-forward.org or follow us on Twitter and Facebook.