Editing Abortion in the United Kingdom (section)

===Public opinion surveys and polls===
{{Main|Societal attitudes towards abortion}}

Opinion polling and social attitudes surveys have regularly considered public opinion in relation to abortion in Britain since at least the 1980s. The [[British Social Attitudes]] (BSA) survey has asked a number of questions about abortion over the past 40 years and has found almost unanimous support for a right to have an abortion if the woman's health would be seriously endangered by going ahead with the pregnancy. Levels of support for abortion in a situation where the woman decides on her own she does not wish to have the child were lower, when the issue was considered in 2012, with just over six in ten (62 per cent) supporting and a third (34 per cent) opposing. However, this marked a considerable change since 1983 when 37 per cent thought the law should allow this while just over half (55 per cent) thought it should not.<ref>{{cite web |title=Personal relationships, Abortion |url=https://www.bsa.natcen.ac.uk/latest-report/british-social-attitudes-30/personal-relationships/abortion.aspx |website=British Social Attitudes |publisher=NatCen social research |access-date=8 November 2022 |date=2012}}</ref>

The similar Northern Ireland Life and Times Survey has surveyed its respondents on abortion several times since 1998.  In that year, 43% said that it was "always wrong" for a woman to have an abortion on economic grounds (i.e. "if the family has a very low income and cannot afford any more children") with 14% saying it was "not wrong at all" and a variety of other responses in between.<ref>{{cite web |title=Do you personally think it is wrong or not wrong for a woman to have an abortion if the family has a very low income and cannot afford any more children? |url=https://www.ark.ac.uk/nilt/1998/Religious_Observance/ABORWRGB.html |website=www.ark.ac.uk/nilt |publisher=NILT |access-date=8 November 2022 |date=1998}}</ref> The same responses were broadly found in 2008, when a large percentage of people (39 per cent) also affirmed that an embryo was "a human being at the moment of conception".<ref>{{cite web |title=People have different views about the beginnings of human life. In your opinion, is an embryo a human being at the moment of conception? |url=https://www.ark.ac.uk/nilt/2008/Religious_Observance/EMBHUMAN.html |website=www.ark.ac.uk/nilt |publisher=NILT |access-date=8 November 2022 |date=2008}}</ref>

A specific set of questions, asked by the Life and Times Survey in 2016 and 2018, covered a wide range of issues around abortion and found the following levels of support for a range of potential grounds for abortion:
* 58% – fatal abnormality in unborn child;
* 54% – pregnancy caused by sexual crime;
* 46% – serious threat to health of pregnant woman;
* 45% – serious abnormality in unborn child;
* 25% – pregnant woman aged 15 (under age of consent);
* 18% – pregnant woman aged 51;
* 17% – pregnant woman prefers not to have children;
* 13% – pregnant woman who is living on low income;
* 12% – pregnant woman who has become unemployed;
* 11% – pregnant woman who is about to begin a new job.<ref>{{cite web |title=Module: Abortion |url=https://www.ark.ac.uk/nilt/results/abortion.html |website=www.ark.ac.uk/nilt |publisher=NILT |access-date=29 December 2023}}</ref>

An Amnesty International poll in 2014 also indicated that a majority of people in Northern Ireland agreed with changes in abortion law for three particular grounds i.e. where a pregnancy has occurred due to rape, or incest, or where a fatal foetal abnormality (or life-limiting condition) has been diagnosed in the unborn child.<ref>{{cite book | last = Millward Brown | author-link = Millward Brown | title = Attitudes to abortion | url = https://www.amnesty.org.uk/sites/default/files/milward_brown_poll_results_october_2014_final_0.pdf | publisher = [[Amnesty International]] | date = October 2014 }}</ref><ref name="NL_221004">{{cite news | last = Rainey | first = Mark | title = Seven out of 10 people in NI back a relaxation of abortion law – survey | url = http://www.newsletter.co.uk/news/regional/seven-out-of-10-people-in-ni-back-a-relaxation-of-abortion-law-survey-1-6371138 | work = [[The News Letter|News Letter]] | location = Belfast, Northern Ireland | date = 22 October 2014 }}</ref>

A [[YouGov]]/''[[Daily Telegraph]]'' survey in 2005 measured British public opinion regarding the [[Gestational age (obstetrics)|gestational age]] at which abortion should be permitted, with the following levels of support:
*2% – abortion being available throughout pregnancy;
*25% – maintaining the term limit of 24 weeks;
*30% – reducing the term limit to 20 weeks;
*19% – reducing the term limit to 12 weeks;
*9% – reducing the term limit to less than 12 weeks; and
*6% – abortion not being allowed at any stage.<ref>{{cite web | title = YouGov/Daily Telegraph Survey Results | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20081029172727/http://www.yougov.com/archives/pdf/TEL050101042_1.pdf | archive-date = 29 October 2008 | url = http://www.yougov.com/archives/pdf/TEL050101042_1.pdf | website = yougov.com | publisher = [[YouGov]] | date = 30 July 2005 | access-date = 11 May 2017}}</ref>

A further 2011 poll by [[Ipsos MORI|MORI]] surveyed women's attitudes to abortion and found that:
*53% agreed that if a woman wanted an abortion, she should not have to continue with her pregnancy (compared with 22% who neither agreed nor disagreed with the statement and 17% who disagreed);
*37% agreed with the statement that "too many women do not think hard enough before having an abortion" (with 28% disagreeing and 26% neither agreeing nor disagreeing);
*46% disagreed with introducing more restrictions on obtaining an abortion (with 23% agreeing and 23% neither agreeing nor disagreeing).<ref>{{cite web | title = Public Attitudes towards Abortion | url = https://www.ipsos.com/ipsos-mori/en-uk/public-attitudes-towards-abortion | website = ipsos.com | publisher = [[Ipsos MORI]] | date = 5 September 2011}} [https://www.ipsos.com/sites/default/files/migrations/en-uk/files/Assets/Docs/Polls/BPAStabs.PDF Pdf of data.]</ref>