The morning-after pill is legal across the U.S., even in the states with the strictest abortion bans — but many Americans don't know that, in part due to a mistaken belief that the pill is abortion medication.

Nearly a third of American adults are unsure if emergency contraception like the morning-after pill is legal in their state and 5 percent think it is illegal there, according to a 2023 survey from health policy nonprofit KFF.

A recent survey conducted by emergency contraception company Cadence OTC, whose results were shared with The Hill, found even more widespread confusion about the pill's legality: Just 40 percent of participants knew that emergency contraception in the form of the morning-after pill is legal in all 50 states.

“It’s primarily a result of some people conflating the morning-after pill with the abortion pill, believing that the morning-after pill will end an early pregnancy and therefore is illegal in states with abortion bans,” Cadence OTC co-Founder Samantha Miller wrote to The Hill. “Many people do not understand the morning-after pill's active ingredient and mechanism of action.”

The over-the-counter form of the morning-after pill is one dose of levonorgestrel — a hormone that is used to delay ovulation. The pill is most effective if taken........

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