Only 16% of surveyed adults believed that abortion should be decriminalised, as proposed by Dame Diana Johnson’s amendment to the Criminal Justice Bill. 29% said they did not know or preferred not to say.
Slightly more women than men agreed that abortion over 24 weeks should remain illegal, while 71% of adults said that a one-year jail sentence for illegal abortions between 32 and 34 weeks was “about right or too short”.
The poll of over 2,000 adults, conducted by Whitestone Insight, revealed a disconnect between the British public and Parliament – a YouGov recently found that 55% of MPs supported a change to the abortion law.
Dame Johnson’s amendment would stop all prosecutions of women like Carla Foster suspected of having illegal late-term abortions, meaning that abortion would be decriminalised. Foster was found guilty of aborting her child at around 32-34 weeks after lying to an abortion provider to obtain abortifacients.
SPUC comment
A SPUC spokesperson said: “This poll shows decisively that British public opinion is opposed to the decriminalisation of abortion. MPs must respect the democratic will of the people and reject all attempts to impose abortion without limit on the nation.
“Britain is a democracy that continues to find the act of abortion over 24 weeks to be unsafe, abhorrent and unacceptable in 2024. Parliament has a duty to uphold that democracy and ensure that the UKs laws are enforced.
“British people have ultimately seen through the false claims of abortion ideologues like Dame Diana Johnson who seek the expansion abortion at whatever cost to the women involved, as well as their unborn babies.”
