Brits are now more liberal on sex and abortion
WE are becoming increasingly liberal in our attitudes towards sex and morality, according to a major report published yesterday.
Those who believe sex should be saved for marriage and who oppose same-sex relationships are now a shrinking minority.
Even most Christians now believe there is nothing wrong with sex between unmarried people. Among Anglicans, 73 per cent think pre-marital sex is not wrong, and 55 per cent think gay sex is not wrong.
Opposition to pornography is also dwindling, according to the British Social Attitudes survey, with six in ten under-35s saying that adults should be able to watch any film they like – no matter how violent or obscene.
The survey found that 70 per cent of people think a woman should be able to get an abortion if she does not want a child, and nearly two-thirds think an abortion should automatically be available if a couple cannot afford more children.
Even among Roman Catholics – whose church spearheads the opposition to abortion – 61 per cent said that abortion should be permitted if a woman does not want a child.
This is almost double the level of Catholic support for abortion recorded in the mid-1980s.
However the survey, which interviewed almost 3,000 people, found there were limits to the extent of liberal thinking.
The proportion of people who felt someone with a painful, incurable disease should be allowed to ask a doctor to help them die has fallen to 77 per cent. This is down from the 80 per cent who were in favour of legalised euthanasia in 2013.
Survey chief Roger Harding said: ‘The trend that has seen Britain happier than ever to accept greater diversity in relationships has accelerated in recent years.’ Commenting on the shifting attitudes towards same-sex relationships, the Bishop of Manchester, the Right Revd David Walker, said: ‘What was, to a previous generation, an abstract question about physical sexual activity, is now about our friends and family members and the bonds of love which sustain them.’