Poll finds scant support for criminalizing abortion

A new poll reveals that three-quarters of respondents in 18 geographically and culturally diverse countries reject the use of criminal penalties to discourage abortions. The poll, released on June 18 by World Public Opinion (WPO) -- a website managed by the Program on International Policy Attitudes at the University of Maryland -- found that 17 of 18 countries polled have majorities that reject punitive measures, such as fines and imprisonment for those who give and receive the procedure, as deterrents to abortion. "While it does appear that many people around the world are uncomfortable with abortion, few think that the government should use punitive means to try to prevent it," said WorldPublicOpinion.org director Steven Kull. The poll, conducted between January and May, surveyed 18,465 people in 18 countries that span five continents and represent more than half of the world's population. Overall, 52 percent of respondents, by average across all countries, think that the individual should have control over abortion decisions. The press release said that the 42 percent who favor government involvement "include 18 percent who support criminal enforcement, while 23 percent favor education, counseling, and adoption services but not criminal enforcement." In the nine countries where majorities consider abortions outside the purview of government, less than 10 percent of respondents favor criminal penalties. Only respondents in Indonesia had a majority that favored "using criminal enforcement." Sixty percent of respondents answered this way, and only 10 percent of Indonesians said that matters of abortion should be left up to the individual -- the lowest in any country for that answer. Seven countries' publics rejected punitive prevention in spite of their own current laws. "Contrary to their public's preferences, there are criminal penalties for abortion in Egypt, Iran, Mexico, Nigeria, the Palestinian Territories, Poland, and South Korea," said a press release announcing the results. "Clearly many governments around the world using criminal penalties to try to prevent abortions are out of step with their publics," said Kull. In three countries with highly restrictive laws, Poland, Mexico, and South Korea, majorities of over 60 percent said that abortions should be individual matters. Publics of seven countries said that government does have a role to play in discouraging abortions. Among them was Indonesia, where nine in 10 people back government involvement. Indonesia is a Muslim country, but none of the other Muslim countries -- Iran, Egypt, the Palestinian territories, Azerbaijan, Turkey, and India -- showed majorities preferring criminal abortion prevention. In a religious breakdown, six in 10 Muslims see a government role and half of those think abortion should be restricted by means of criminal penalties. Nearly-two thirds of Christians think that decisions about abortion are an individual's responsibility and only 8 percent favor punishment. Geographically, North America and Europe overwhelmingly support the individual dealing with abortion issues on their own. Mexico, with 70 percent responding this way, edged out the US, by one percentage point. France led Europe as well as the world at large with 95 percent of respondents wanting to leave decisions up to the individual. Britain was also second in the continent and the world with 81 percent backing individual decisions. Ukraine, Poland and Russia -- in descending order of rank -- all favored individual choice by majorities of between 60 and 70 percent. In Nigeria, the only African country polled, 84 percent saw a government role for preventing abortion, but only half preferred penalties as the means. In Asia, China and South Korea led the way for individual decision with 67 and 62 percent, respectively. Only 8 and 6 percent of respondents, respectively, in China and South Korea preferred criminalizing abortion as a means of prevention. In the Middle East, nearly half of respondents in Azerbaijan, Turkey and Egypt thought that government should excuse itself from abortion choices. In March, WPO released a survey that found that large majorities of people around the world agree that women should enjoy full equality of rights compared to men. In that poll, 86 percent of all respondents said they considered gender equality important; 59 percent said they considered it "very important." The survey found some difference between men and women. While, across all countries, 84 percent of men and 88 percent of women said equality was important, 64 percent of women said it was "very important," compared to 54 percent of men who agreed. In contrast to the abortion issue, respondents to the March poll thought that government did have a role to play to ensure gender equality. In an aggregate of all 16 countries, 53 percent of respondents said their governments should be more aggressive in promoting women's equality. But the abortion poll released today did not see the same divergences in the answers of men and women. "Interestingly," concluded the WPO press release, "though abortion is often framed as a women's rights issue, there are no significant differences between men and women."