50 years on, and the public is deeply uneasy about the UK's abortion law. Image: March for Life 2017
A public backlash against proposals to extend abortion law has been revealed in a new opinion poll ahead of the General Election.
The polling company ComRes undertook the most extensive UK polling in the last decade on abortion. The results, published today, reveal that only 1% of the public favour extending the abortion limit up to birth, and that women were more likely to favour restrictions.
The poll was carried out by Where Do They Stand, a grassroots group which exists to help the public find out the views of elected representatives. ComRes interviewed 2008 British adults online between 12th and 14th May 2017, and data was weighted to be representative of all GB adults.
Out of touch
A spokesperson for the website, Madeline Page, said: "This polling suggests that many candidates standing for election are out of touch with where the general public, particularly women, stand on abortion. We have launched our website to ensure that anyone can find out exactly where their local candidates stand on the issues of abortion, assisted suicide and embryo research."
Public oppose abortion up to birth
In March, MPs narrowly voted in favour of a bill, which, if enacted, would have allowed abortion up to birth, for any reason. However, the new poll found that only 1% of the population, (and 1% of women) favour allowing abortion up to birth. As SPUC's Dr Anthony McCarthy explained in a press release, "this poll reveals how out of touch are those seeking to make abortion still more widely available. The abortion industry wants us to believe that abortion is a 'right' and should be decriminalised, but it is becoming increasingly clear that most people know better in their hearts. In fact, the public in Britain is uneasy about abortion, and women are particularly uneasy."
Great unease about abortion
The public's unease with abortion was also shown in the poll's other findings, including:
- 65 % oppose UK taxpayer money being spent on abortions overseas.
- 93 % of women want independent abortion counselling introduced.
- 91% of women want a sex-selective abortion ban.
- 79% want a five-day consideration period before abortion.
- 84% of women want improved pregnancy support for women in crisis.
- 76% want introduction of doctors verifying women not coerced.
- 70% of parents want parental consent for girls 15 and under
Make the plight of unborn children a voting priority
Dr McCarthy added: "The findings illustrate quite clearly a disconnect between ordinary voters and the utterances of many public broadcasters, pundits and parliamentarians.We would emphasise that abortion is the No. 1 human rights scandal of our time yet the political elite in this country continually turn a blind eye. This poll provides further proof that the average man and woman in the street care about this issue and we are encouraging them to make the plight of unborn children a voting priority. Each and every week 4000 unborn babies are killed in Britain and their mothers carry the emotional scars, often for life."
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