Majority back changes to abortion laws, poll shows

Pro-life and pro-choice campaigners have claimed victory after an opinion poll appeared to suggest a majority of people favour liberalising the country’s abortion laws. The latest Irish Times/Ipsos MRBI poll showed a significant majority of voters are in favour of changing the Constitution to allow for abortion but only in limited circumstances.

A total of 18% said it should not be repealed; 55% said it should be repealed to allow for limited access to abortion in the cases of rape and fatal foetal abnormality; 19% said it should be repealed to allow for abortion in all cases requested, as in Britain, while 8% had no opinion.

The Pro-Life Campaign said it was reassured by the poll, Dr Ruth Cullen said: “The poll clearly shows that 73% of respondents do not want unrestricted access to abortion in Ireland, along the lines of what the ‘Repeal’ campaign is looking for.”

“The overall findings of the poll are reassuring from a pro-life standpoint. The ‘Repeal’ campaign are looking for unrestricted access to abortion. This poll shows very clearly the public do not support such a regime being introduced,” she says.

Abortion Rights Campaign spokesperson Linda Kavanagh said previous opinion polls have shown the vast majority of people want to see a change to our laws.

“This latest poll confirms yet again that the people of Ireland want the Eighth Amendment removed from the constitution. It’s time for the Government to stop delaying and call a referendum sooner rather than later,” she said.

She also said she was concerned over the framing of some questions in the poll. “Without access to the questions in the poll we cannot be sure to what extent those polled support liberalised abortion access. For example, the idea of ‘UK- style’ abortion doesn’t make sense, when abortion access varies so wildly in different regions of the UK. The poll questions seemed to imply that women in the UK have access to abortion in any circumstance. This is not the case,” she said.

The Government has set up a citizens’ assembly which will meet for the first time later this month to consider the future of the Eighth Amendment to the Constitution. It is then expected to come up with a recommendation on its future for Government before late spring. The Eighth, which guarantees the right to life of the unborn, was inserted into the Constitution after a referendum on the issue in 1983.