ABORTION ACCESS

Two Canadian, and one British,
public opinion polls on abortion

Sponsored link.

1998 British Poll:

The Harris Research Centre conducted a public opinion poll involving 1,762 people aged 16 and above from 1998-MAR-27 to 31. The question asked was: "Should a pregnant woman be able to decide for herself whether to have an abortion in the first three months of pregnancy?" ₁ Overall results were:

More women then men supported the pro-choice stance (81% to 72%)

2002 Canadian poll:

Environics Research Group conducted this poll for the National Post and Global TV network.

There is a very high level of support for freedom of choice for women in Canada. It has been rising steadily since the mid-1980s when only about half of Canadian adults supported legal and widely available abortions. By the year 2000, an Environics poll had indicated that support had risen to 66%. A Compas Inc. poll conducted from 2002-NOV-16 to 19, shows that 78% of adults are in favor of abortion access. This value varied from a high of 82% in Quebec to a low of 68% in the Maritime provinces on Canada's East coast. The margin of error is ±4 percentage points.

Natalie Hudson, spokesperson for the Right to Life Association of Toronto said that the data is "very disappointing...It means we've got to get out there more."

Mary Ellen Douglas, spokesperson for the Campaign Life Coalition criticized the survey methodology. It asked a number of other questions related to freedom of choice. She said: "Freedom for women is a flag, whether your asking what color they should be able to dye their hair or what doctor they should be able to go to. Women will respond to that no matter what the question is, as yes. The reality is if you asked the question 'Should women have complete freedom on whether to kill their two-year-old?' then you introduce something else...it's the same question; it's her baby at a different age." ₂

2006 Canadian poll:

Environics Research Group conducted this poll for LifeCanada, a pro-life/anti-abortion group.

This poll is extremely useful for two main reasons:

They attempted to determine when Canadians believe that human life becomes a human person We feel that this is the key question to be raised in polls on abortion access. However, it is rarely included. The question asked was:

"In your opinion, at what point in human development should the law protect human life?"

This is a politician's nightmare. Canadian adults are split into three almost equally sized camps, and the percentage of people who don't know is decreasing.

There has been a notable shift over time from preferring protection from conception on (a drop from 37& to 31%) , to preferring protection starting later in pregnancy (an increase from 19% to 33%).

For those who believe that protection of human life should begin during pregnancy, two choices were offered: at the start of the second and third trimesters. Subjects specified the former about twice as often as the latter:

N = 2,012. Margin of error = ±2.2 percentage points. Poll taken 2006-SEP-19 to 2006-OCT-12.

Environics also asked whether the subjects favored "informed consent" laws in which the physician is required to provide information to the pregnant woman about the stages of fetal development, an assessment of abortion complications, alternatives to abortion, etc. Canadians generally favored such laws. There has been no significant trend over times:

Finally, they asked whether pregnant women under the age of 18 should be required to have the consent of their parents before obtaining an abortion. Results indicate another politician's nightmare:

Opinion appears to be unusually stable over time.

A related menu on this website:

References:

1. Data from the British poll is at: http://www.gn.apc.org/
2. "78% favour abortion rights: Poll shows support touching its all-time high," National Post, Toronto, ON, Canada, 2002-NOV-27, Page A1 and A8.
3. "Canadians' attitudes towards abortion issues," Environics Research Group, 2006-OCT, at: http://www.lifesite.net/ This is a PDF file. You may require software to read it. Software can be obtained free from: 

Copyright © 1998 to 2006 by Ontario Consultants on Religious Tolerance
Latest update: 2006-NOV-15
Author: B.A. Robinson