The Pro Life Campaign (PLC) has said it is confident that polls showing support for abortion would change rapidly in the event of any referendum “as people start to reflect on what the changes would mean in practice and how it would open the door to abortion on wide-ranging circumstances”.
A survey by Behaviour & Attitudes for The Sunday Times found that 77% supported abortion “in cases where the mother’s health could be damaged by pregnancy”. There was strong opposition to more liberal grounds for termination with 58% opposing abortion for socio-economic reasons and 60% opposed unrestricted grounds for abortion.
“The clear lesson from the Citizens’ Assembly is that once you start singling out certain unborn babies as unworthy of legal protection, then in effect you are saying that unborn human life in general has no intrinsic value,” said PLC spokesperson Cora Sherlock.
“As a society, we either protect all human life or you end up protecting none,” she said.