Attitudes to Abortion

Attitudes to Abortion

Key stat: Over 80% of Australians believe abortion should be legal and available in Australia in all circumstances

Public Opinion

The Australian Abortion Stigma Survey (TAASS) is a national survey implemented in 2020 that went viral on social media, garnering 57,999 valid responses (1). 82.5% of TAASS respondents believed abortion should be legal and available in Australia in all circumstances (always), and only 5.6% agreed abortion should never be legal and available.

Younger participants were also found to hold more abortion-supportive beliefs. As age increased, abortion related beliefs became increasingly anti-abortion and negative judgments towards abortion seekers and providers increased significantly, though remained a minority.

Only 9.7% of participants felt women who have abortions are doing “something wrong” and 11.8% agreed with the statement, “a woman who has more than one abortion is irresponsible”. Most (89.1%) participants agreed that they, “respect a health professional who helps women have a safe abortion”.

A South Australian online survey conducted in 2019 found that the majority (65%) of their 1,012 respondents supported the ready availability of abortion care and an additional 25% supported availability in certain circumstances (2). Support for safe access zones (88%) and the application of existing protections (69%) and obligations (94%) for conscientious objectors was high. A majority (63%) considered that later abortion should be available ‘when the woman and her healthcare team decide it is necessary’.

A 2022 Ipsos survey including 1000 Australians aged 16-74 (3) found that 83% of the Australian respondents think abortion should be allowed if the pregnancy threatens the life or health of the woman. Eight in 10 Australian respondents say it should be allowed if it is the result of a rape and 73% agree with abortion if the baby could have severe disabilities or health problems.

Almost three quarters of Australian respondents (74%) say abortion should be legal for any woman in the first six weeks of a pregnancy, 59% say it should be legal for any woman in the first 14 weeks, but only 39% say it should be legal for any woman in the first 20 weeks.

Small minorities of Australian respondents support penalties for the woman (16%), the person who performed the illegal abortion (30%) and someone else who arranged it (25%).

Closer to home, a poll of 1200 Queenslanders commissioned by national campaign group Fair Agenda in February 2017 found that 82% agreed it should be legal for a woman, in consultation with a medical professional, to terminate her pregnancy (4).

Expert Groups

The Royal Australian and New Zealand College of Obstetricians & Gynaecologists (RANZCOG) state that “RANZCOG supports equitable access to sexual and reproductive health services, including abortion. The college believes women in Australia and Aotearoa New Zealand should be able to choose the method of abortion most acceptable to them, without coercion, informed by their values and preferences.” (5).

A survey of Australian Fellows and specialist trainees of RANZCOG was conducted in 2009 (6). Of the 740 respondents, 632 (85%) stated that they did not hold religious or conscientious views that would make them totally opposed to abortion; 463 of these (73%) reported performing abortion as part of their personal practice, with 204 (44%) doing so only for severe fetal abnormality or serious maternal medical conditions.

108 respondents reported holding views that made them totally opposed to abortion — 60 (56%) opposed it in any situation at all and 48 (44%) opposed it with limited exceptions. Of those opposed, 34 (32%) added comment that they perform abortion for severe fetal abnormality or serious maternal medical conditions, and a further 17 (16%) commented that they refer women requesting abortion in these circumstances to colleagues.

Of the respondents not opposed to abortion, 89% supported the availability of induced abortion within the public health system, and half felt that national availability of mifepristone would modify their practice of induced abortion.

Do people vote for pro-choice politicians?

The polling commissioned by Fair Agenda in February 2017 found that 60% of Queenslanders would be less likely to vote for an MP who opposed decriminalisation (4). The majority of voters across almost all parties were of this position, including 48% of LNP voters, 56% of One Nation voters, 68% of Labor voters and 77% of Greens voters.

References

• Vallury, Kari, 2023 Abortion stigma in a pro-choice world: A mixed methods study of abortion stigma in Australia, Flinders University, College of Humanities, Arts and Social Sciences
• Cations M, Ripper M, Dwyer J 2020. Majority support for access to abortion care including later abortion in South Australia. Aust NZ J Public Health. 2020; 44:349-52; doi: 10.1111/1753-6405.12997
• Seven in 10 Australians say that abortion should be legal in all or most cases. 2022. URL: https://www.ipsos.com/en-au/seven-10-australians-say-abortion-should-be-legal-all-or-most-cases
• New polling shows criminalisation of women’s healthcare is a vote changer. 2017. URL: https://www.fairagenda.org/blog_abortion_polling
• Clinical Guideline for Abortion Care: An evidence-based guideline on abortion care in Australia and Aotearoa New Zealand (2023). RANZCOG, Melbourne, Australia.
• Caroline M de Costa, Darren B Russell and Michael Carrette. Med J Aust 2010; 193 (1): 13-16. doi: 10.5694/j.1326-5377.2010.tb03733.x

Updated October 2024