Canadians say “NO” to the Status Quo

Current status of abortion funding and fetal rights in Canada does not reflect public opinion, according to a poll conducted by Leger Marketing in October.

News Release

OTTAWA, Oct. 29 /CNW/ -Only 23% of Canadians want all abortions to be publicly funded, and only 30% would deny legal protection to unborn children, according to a new Léger poll.

“Henry Morgentaler may want all abortions tax-funded, but Canadian taxpayers do not,” said Peter Ryan of LifeCanada, announcing the results.

The abortion provider is suing New Brunswick and Nova Scotia over their refusal to fully fund his private facilities in those provinces. 51% of 1500 Canadians polled said that abortion should only be tax-funded in medical emergencies such as a threat to the mother's life, or in the case of rape or incest. Another 15% said that paying for abortion should be a private responsibility. The results had a 1.8% margin of error.

“Two-thirds are either completely opposed, or opposed except for hard cases which account for less than 1% of the 110,000 abortions a year now performed,” said Ryan.

In the same poll, 56% of respondents said human life should be legally protected before birth. 37% favoured protection from conception on. 13% said (only) after three months gestation, 6%, (only) after 6 months. 30% said legal protection should be restricted until after birth. The results for the fetal rights question had a 2.5% margin of error.

“By almost a two to one margin, Canadians oppose the status quo which only recognizes a human being at birth,” Ryan said. “Contrary to what Prime Minister Chretien said during the last election, there is no ‘social peace' on abortion. Most Canadians want to see greater respect and protection for babies in the womb.”

Ryan said that as governments look at the future of health care, they should realize that most Canadians see abortion on demand as an elective they do not wish to fund. He noted that even the president of the Canadian Abortion Rights Action League, Marilyn Wilson, told a Commons Finance Committee last year that most abortions are done “for socio-economic reasons.”

Ryan also said that scientific data on post-abortion health problems is accumulating.

“More and more, the links between abortion and increased incidence of breast cancer, premature delivery in subsequent pregnancy, depression and suicide are being demonstrated.”

For a copy of the Leger Omnican Report for LifeCanada, “Canadians' Opinion on Abortion,” please call 1-888-796-9600.

Poll results can be viewed at www.albertaprolife.com/resources/polls.html