Poll Shows Canadians Ready for Curbs on Abortion

OTTAWA, November 3, 2003 (LifeSiteNews.com) – A new poll shows a considerable degree of consensus among Canadians on social issues usually considered controversial. The Leger poll asked about prenatal legal protection, and several abortion-related topics.  63% said they favoured legal protection for human life before birth, 7% higher than a Leger poll in 2002. Women were more likely than men to favour legal protection from conception on.  Over two-thirds of Canadians (69%) favour informed consent legislation on abortion, similar to laws adopted in the US states. Such laws require that, before a woman has an abortion, her physician must inform her about stages of foetal development, possible complications from an abortion and alternatives to abortion. “With two-thirds agreement on these issues Canadians are giving pretty clear direction to our politicians,” said Jakki Jeffs of LifeCanada who commissioned the poll “but the question is, will they listen?”  Another area of agreement concerned abortions performed on minors. 67% said they should only be done with either parental consent (32%) or notification (35%). On abortion funding, 68% said it should either be privately funded or only funded “in medical emergencies such as a threat to the mother’s life or in the case of rape or incest.”  Mrs Jeffs, finds it ironic that public policy on these issues is out of step with public opinion. “Abortion is unrestricted at any stage of pregnancy in Canada, yet almost two-thirds want protection for the unborn. There is nothing requiring physicians and private, for profit abortion clinics to inform abortion-minded women about complications and side-effects of the procedure. And with more than 100,000 abortions a year in Canada, we have virtual abortion on demand, usually paid for by taxpayers”.  According to Leger, the October poll of 1505 to 1882 Canadians has a margin of error of 2.3 to 2.5% 19 times out of 20.  In an earlier release, the poll found that 70% of Canadians would prefer adult stem cell research to embryonic stem cell research.  See the LifeSiteNews.com coverage on that story here: Most Canadians Want Alternatives to Embryo Research https://www.lifesitenews.com/ldn/2003/oct/03102301.html   Detailed poll results online at:  https://www.lifecanada.org/LifeCanada/pdf/Leger%20stem%20cells.pdf