Most Canadians support abortion rights as U.S. grapples with Roe v. Wade: poll

About four in five respondents to the online survey said they are in favour of a woman's right to an abortion if she so chooses, while 14 per cent said they are opposed.

As the United States faces turmoil over the possible overturning of the right to have an abortion, a new poll offers a picture of how Canadians feel about the issue.

About four in five respondents to an online survey by Leger and the Association for Canadian Studies said they are in favour of a woman’s right to an abortion if she so chooses, while 14 per cent said they are opposed.

Seventy per cent of all respondents said they were concerned about the leaked plan to overturn Roe v. Wade, and almost half said they think the situation in the U.S. on the right to an abortion may have an effect in Canada.

The online survey of 1,534 Canadians between Friday and Sunday cannot be assigned a margin of error because internet-based polls are not considered random samples.

“Is it the old adage that if the if the U.S. sneezes Canada gets a cold, that whatever happens in the States is bound to have an impact on Canada? That’s always been sort of how we position ourselves against the U.S.,” said Christian Bourque, Leger executive vice-president.

Bourque said the high level of concern is notable given the vast majority of Canadians say they support the right to choose to have an abortion.

“In Canada, whenever there’s been attempts at reopening this debate, it was fairly quickly shut down. So why now would some people think that this would in some way launch this debate in Canada?” he said.

“It’s not as if there was this overwhelming feeling that the views of Canadians were changing on the topic.”