Societal attitudes towards abortion

Societal attitudes towards abortion have varied throughout different historal periods and cultures. One manner of assessing such attitudes in the modern era has been to conduct opinion polls to measure levels of public opinion on abortion.

Africa

 * South Africa: A 2003 Human Sciences Research Council study examined moral attitudes among South Africans:
 * 56% said they believed that abortion is wrong even if there is a strong chance of serious defect in the fetus. The breakdown by race was 64% among black people, 23% among white people, 41% among people of mixed race, and 37% among Indian people.
 * 70% said they believed that abortion is wrong if done primarily because the parents have low income and may be unable to afford another child. The breakdown by race was 74% among black people, 57% among white people, 57% among people of mixed race, and 59% among Indian people.

Europe

 * Austria: A May 2007 OGM survey examined Austrian opinion on the morality of abortion, asking, "Personally, do you think of abortion as a moral issue?" 20% of those polled replied, "yes, always", 59% replied "yes, under certain circumstances", 19% replied "no, never", and 2% replied that they were "not sure".
 * Czech Republic: A May 2007 CVVM poll found that 72% believe abortion in the Czech Republic should be allowed "at the request of the woman", 19% that it should be allowed for "societal reasons", 5% that it should be allowed only if "a woman’s health is at risk", 1% that it should be "banned".
 * Republic of Ireland: A September 2005 Irish Examiner/Lansdowne poll about abortion in Ireland found that 36% believe it should be legalized while 47% do not.
 * United Kingdom: An August 2005 YouGov/Daily Telegraph poll about abortion in the U.K. found that 30% of Britons would back a measure to reduce the legal limit for abortion to 20 weeks, 25% support maintaining the current limit of 24 weeks, 19% support a limit of 12 weeks, 9% support a limit of less than 12 weeks, and 6% responded that abortion should never be allowed while 2% said it should be permitted throughout pregnancy.

2005 poll of ten countries
A May 2005 Euro RSCG/TNS Sofres poll examined attitudes toward abortion in 10 European countries, asking polltakers whether they agreed with the statement, "If a woman doesn't want children, she should be able to have an abortion". Results were as follows:

Eastern Europe/Eurasia study
An April 2003 CDC/ORC Macro report examined sentiment on abortion among women aged 15 to 44 in six Eastern European and Eurasian countries, asking, "Do you think that (in any situation) a woman always has (or should have) the right to decide about her (own) pregnancy, including whether to have an abortion?" The results were: Among those whose response was "no" above, it was then asked if abortion would be acceptable under selected circumstances. Positive responses to this subsequent question were:

North & Central America

 * Canada: A December 2001 Gallup poll about abortion in Canada, asked, "Do you think abortions should be legal under any circumstances, legal only under certain circumstances or illegal in all circumstances and in what circumstances?" 32% responded that they believe abortion should be legal in all circumstances, 52% that it should be legal in certain circumstances, and 14% that it should be legal in no circumstances.
 * Mexico: A November 2005 IMO poll about abortion in Mexico found that 73.4% think abortion should not be legalized while 11.2% think it should.
 * Nicaragua: An August-September 2006 Greenberg Quinlan Rosner Research poll on the legality of abortion to save a woman's life found that 20% of respondents felt strongly that it should be "legal", 49% felt somewhat that it should be "legal", 18% felt strongly that it should be "illegal", and 10% felt somewhat that it should be "illegal".
 * Panama: A May 2005 Dichter & Neira/La Prensa poll found that 89.4% disagreed with abortion and 8.3% agreed.
 * United States: A February 2007 CBS News poll about abortion in the U.S. asked, "What is your personal feeling about abortion?", and 30% said that it should be "permitted only in cases such as rape, incest or to save the woman's life", 31% said that abortion should be "permitted in all cases", 16% that it should be "permitted, but subject to greater restrictions than it is now", 12% said that it should "only be permitted to save the woman's life", and 5% said that it should "never" be permitted.

Oceania & Australasia

 * Australia: In a February 2005 ACNielsen poll about abortion in Australia, as reported in The Age, 56% thought the current abortion laws, which generally allow abortion for the sake of life or health, were "about right", 16% want changes in law to make abortion "more accessible", and 17% want changes to make it "less accessible."

South America

 * Argentina: A December 2003 Graciela Romer y Asociados survey found that 30% thought that abortion in Argentina should be allowed "regardless of situation", 47% that it should be allowed "under some circumstances", and 23% that it should not be allowed "regardless of situation".
 * Brazil: A March 2007 Datafolha/Folha de Sao Paulo poll found that 65% believe that their country's current law — which allows abortion in cases of rape or endangerment to life — "should not be modified", 16% that it should be expanded "to allow abortion in other cases", 10% that abortion should be "decriminalized", and 5% were "not sure".
 * Chile: A July 2006 MORI survey found that 26% believe that abortion is "justified" while 74% believe that it is not.
 * Colombia: A July 2005 YanHaas/Radio RCN poll found that 65.6% said they thought that abortion should remain illegal, 26.9% that it should be made legal, and 7.5% that they were unsure.
 * Uruguay: A May 2007 Factum/El Espectador survey asked Uruguayans about a law under debate in their country's Senate, which would legalize abortion within the first 12 weeks of pregnancy, finding that 61% support the law, 27% oppose the law, and 12% are unsure about it.

Christianity
An October 2006 Pew Research Center survey of moral opinion among Christians in 10 countries asked "... [Do] you think abortion can always be justified, sometimes be justified, or never be justified?"

The poll also asked respondents whether they agreed with the statement, "The government should not interfere with a woman’s ability to have an abortion".