Poll shows no appetite for UK’s abortion regime here

ORGANISERS of the lively Repeal campaign must be disappointed with the recent abortion poll, which shows more people in favour of reforming our abortion laws than repealing the Eighth Amendment. The poll shows that while the public has no appetite for replicating the UK’s liberal abortion regime, it is in favour of legal abortion in so-called ‘hard cases’, particularly where pregnancy is a result of rape, incest or child abuse, when the foetus will not survive outside the womb and when a woman’s health is at risk. Interestingly, only 44% of voters believe that abortion should be legal when a woman is threatening suicide, which is one of the few instances where abortion is actually legal here. Only 28% believe that women who say that they are unable to cope because of age or circumstances should have access to legal abortion, which is the reason for most abortions that are sought by Irish women in the UK. The most recent figures from 2015 show that more than 3,400 Irish women – more than nine a day – gave Irish addresses at clinics in Britain. Admittedly, it’s the lowest level since 1980 and probably the result of superior education, contraceptive availability and, according to the Irish Family Planning Association, online abortion pills. Still, the enduring reliance of Irishwomen with crisis pregnancies on UK abortion providers doesn’t appear to be reflected in this opinion poll. It suggests that Irish people still prefer to export the abortion problem.