Abortion in Canada - Opinion Polls

Opinion Polls

• In a Léger poll taken September 2001, 46.6% of respondents say they are personally "for" abortion, while 37.6% say they are personally "against" abortion. In the same poll, 54.5% of respondents agreed with the idea that "only women should have the right to decide to have an abortion," while 38.5% disagreed.

• A Gallup poll in December 2001 asked respondents: "Do you think abortions should be legal under any circumstances, legal only under certain circumstances or illegal in all circumstances and in what circumstances?" The results showed that 32% of Canadians believed abortion should be legal in all circumstances (down from 37% in 2000), 52% believed abortion should only be legal in certain circumstances and 14% thought abortions should be illegal in all circumstances, (up 9% from 2000).

• In a Léger poll taken January 2002, 47% of respondents said abortion was "not immoral," while 41.8% said it was.

• In a poll conducted by the National Post in November 2002, 78% of respondents answered "yes" to the question: "Should women have complete freedom on their decision to have an abortion?".

• A poll in October 2003 conducted by Leger asked about prenatal legal protection, and several abortion-related topics, 63% said they favoured legal protection for human life before birth and 69% favour informed consent legislation on abortion.

• In a Gallup Canada poll taken September 2004, 54% of respondents said they personally thought abortion was "morally acceptable."

• In a Gallup Canada poll taken April 2005, 52% of respondents say they would like to see Canadian abortion laws "remain the same," 20% say they would like the laws to be "less strict," while 24% say they would like the laws to be "more strict."

• In an October 2005 Environics poll, commissioned by Life Canada, when asked "at what point in human development should the law protect human life?" 30% of respondents said "From conception on," 19% said "After three months of pregnancy," 11% said "After six months of pregnancy," and 33% said "From the point of birth."

• In an April 2006 Leger poll, 34% of respondents said they found abortion "immoral," behind paedophilia, extramarital affairs, prostitution, alcohol abuse, sexual relations before the age of 16, pornographic films and blasphemy.

Among provinces, British Columbia and Quebec have the highest percentage who are pro-choice, and the Prairies have the highest percentage who are pro-life.

• In a June 2008 Angus Reid Strategies poll, almost half of respondents (46%) believe abortion should be permitted in all cases. Roughly one-in-five Canadians (19%) would subject abortion to greater restrictions than now, 22 percent would allow the procedure only in cases such as rape, incest and to save the woman's life, and seven percent would only permit abortion to save the woman's life.

In addition, half of Canadians (49%) believe abortion should be legal under any circumstances. Conversely, 42 per cent of respondents want the procedure to be legal only under certain circumstances, while five per cent would outlaw abortion altogether. Younger, wealthier, and university-educated respondents are more likely to uphold the legality of abortion.

• In a March 2010 EKOS poll, a majority of Canadians (52%) describe themselves as pro-choice while just over one in four (27%) describe themselves as pro-life. One in ten respondents (10%) describe themselves as neither pro-choice nor pro-life and 11% did not respond.