78% favour Abortion Rights

From: Jakki Jeffs
To: letters@nationalpost.com
Sent: Wednesday, November 27, 2002 2:05 PM

November 27th 2002

To the Editor,

Canadians are an interesting lot. If you ask them, as Compas did "Should women have complete freedom to decide whether to have an abortion," 78% say yes. If you ask them, as Leger Marketing did in October 2002, if they think human life should have legal protection before birth, 56% of them say yes. If you ask them, as Gallup Canada did in August 2002, about the morality of abortion, 57% think it is morally acceptable and 40% think it is morally wrong. In 2002, only 32% of Canadians polled by Gallup said abortion should be legal under any circumstances and 66% thought there should be some legal restrictions.

Again, in October of this year, 66% of the 3000 Canadians polled by Leger Marketing said they did not want to pay for abortions except in medical emergencies or for rape or incest. Canadians are muddled on the question of abortion. It would be helpful if all polls were given as much media attention as the Compas poll. Canadian opinion on abortion is much more conflicted than your coverage suggests.

When Canadians are given the opportunity to actually think the question through, they support helping women. When, like the Post survey question they are primed to respond emotionally - they abandon women to the abortion industry.

Sad, that such an enormous societal issue is treated so shabbily.

Respectfully submitted,

Mrs Jakki Jeffs
President
LifeCanada-VieCanada
519 824-7797 (w)
519 821-9604 (h)
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