Politics
Tuesday November 15, 2005
Abortion Poll Reveals Nearly Two-Thirds of Canadian Women Support Legal Protection for Unborn
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By LifeSiteNews.com Staff
OTTAWA, November 15, 2005 (LifeSiteNews.com) - A Focus Canada poll conducted in October 2005 by Environics Research found that 64% of Canadian women support legal protection of unborn children before birth.
The poll, commissioned by LifeCanada, the national education pro-life group, asked 2,024 Canadians several questions on abortion.
Among women, 34% supported legal protection from conception on, versus 24% among men. Nineteen percent of women and 20% of men supported legal protection after three months of gestation and 11% among men and women supported legal protection after six months gestation.
"For the fourth year in a row, we see that the majority of Canadians do not support the existing situation in Canada in which there is no legal protection for babies in the womb," said Joanne Byfield, president of LifeCanada. "Although abortion is held up as an important right for women, we see from this poll that in fact women are far more supportive of protecting human life in the womb."
The poll also asked Canadians about paying for abortions. Half of Canadians thought abortions should only be publicly funded in medical emergencies "such as a threat to the mother's life or in cases of rape or incest." A further 18% thought abortions should be privately funded. At present, almost all of Canada's 105,000 annual abortions are publicly funded.
Once again, 70% of those polled support informed consent legislation for women considering abortion. This would include telling women about stages of fetal development and all possible side effects and complications and an ultrasound scan. There is currently no such legislation.
Respondents were also asked about parental consent for girls under 18 prior to an abortion being performed. Fifty-six percent of Canadians supported a law that would require such consent. At present in Canada, there is no parental consent required for abortion at any age.
"Governments in Canada are completely out of step with Canadians when it comes to abortion policy," said Byfield. "We are forced to pay for all abortions including repeat abortions, now over 33% of all abortions. There is no legal protection for unborn babies at any stage, even for those who are injured or killed in the course of a violent crime."
"Canadians should insist that their government's respect the wishes of the voters and provide some protection for babies in the womb," she said. "The Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms includes the right to life. If we deny it to these most vulnerable human beings, it is a very fragile and arbitrary right."
The margin of error for a sample of 2,024 is 2.2 percentage points, 19 times out of 20.
The complete poll is available online here:
http://www.lifecanada.org/html/resources/polling/2005PollReport.pdf
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