According to the latest polling, while 65% of the population in the UK support abortion being available up to 14 weeks, only 39% support abortion being available up to 20 weeks.
Polling from Ipsos released this month shows that only 39.8% of the British population and 38.7% of women in the country think abortion should be legal during the first 20 weeks of pregnancy.
Support for abortion in Britain up to 20 weeks gestation was lowest in London with only 32.7% of Londoners in support.
Abortion is legal up to 24 weeks in the UK
Abortion in the UK is legal up until the 24th week of pregnancy (unless the child is disabled in which case it is available up to birth). This polling demonstrates that there in not majority suppor for abortion being available up to 20 weeks, which is 4 weeks below the current gestational time limit of 24 weeks.
Among European Union countries, the median average abortion limit is 12 weeks gestation.
Earlier polling from Savanta ComRes showed 2017 showed similar results with 60% of the general population and 70% of women believe that the current 24-week gestational limit for abortion should be reduced to 20 weeks or below.
While abortion is legal in England and Wales up to 24 weeks, the outcome for even extremely premature babies is improving all the time. Earlier this year, John Wyatt, Professor of Ethics and Perinatology at University College London and also Emeritus Professor of Neonatal Paediatrics, Ethics & Perinatology at University College London, presented evidence to parliamentarians from the UK and across the world showing “that there has been a steady improvement in the chances of survival of babies born at 22 and 23 weeks gestation since the Abortion Act was last amended [in 1990]”.
Right To Life UK spokesperson Catherine Robinson said: “Polling on abortion has consistently shown that the abortion law in Britain is out of step with public opinion. Only 1% of the population agrees with abortion extremists that abortion should be available up to birth”.
“Ipsos polling confirms that only a minority of the British population support abortion being available up to twenty weeks. As more babies are born before the abortion limit and go on to survive, the case against the current abortion limit gets stronger all the time. Of course every abortion is a tragedy and should not happen, and hopefully as the public becomes evermore aware of the reality of abortion, support for increasingly pro-life laws will increase too”.
