Poll: Six in ten adults oppose decriminalising abortion

A new poll suggests that the majority of adults in the UK oppose decriminalising abortion.

In a Whitestone Insight survey of 2,109 adults, 62 per cent agreed that abortion should continue to remain illegal after 24 weeks, with only 17 per cent disagreeing.

MPs are expected to vote soon on changes to abortion law in England and Wales. Labour MPs Tonia Antoniazzi and Stella Creasy have tabled amendments to the Government’s Crime and Policing Bill which would allow a woman to kill her unborn baby at any stage of pregnancy without sanction.

‘Matter of life and death’

More than six in ten respondents (64 per cent) considered abortion to be “a matter of life and death”, and thought it “appropriate that the criminal law provides a clear boundary to protect everyone involved”, while 14 per cent disagreed.

The Society for the Protection of Unborn Children, which commissioned the survey, also reported: “Only 5% support extending the abortion limit up to birth, with 46% supporting a reduction in the time limit, and 29% agreeing with the current 24 week limit.

The pro-life campaign group’s Executive Director Michael Robinson said its research “shows that the British public doesn’t support abortion on demand and rejects the deeply flawed arguments from the abortion lobby that it should be removed from the criminal law”.

In Great Britain, abortion is currently permitted for most reasons up to 24 weeks, and up to birth if the unborn child is deemed to have a disability. Inducing a miscarriage outside of the exemptions remains a crime, punishable by up to life in prison, though convictions are rare and have only resulted in very short sentences.