Nearly half of Indians favour government action for discouraging abortion but a majority are still againt criminal penalties to stop it, according to a new survey.
NEW YORK: Nearly half of Indians favour government action for discouraging abortion but a majority are still againt criminal penalties to stop it, according to a new survey.
India is among 17 out of 18 nations polled in an international survey which reject using fines and imprisonment as means to prevent abortions.
The survey, released by WorldPublicOpinion.org on Wednesday, found that 53 per cent of respondents in India favour government action for discouraging abortion but only 26 per cent want criminal penalities againt the accused.
In nine nations, majorities believe their government should simply leave these matters to individuals.
Interviews with 18,465 respondents were conducted in 18 countries representing 59 per cent of the world's population. This includes most of the largest countries in the world China, India, the United States, Indonesia, Nigeria, and Russia.
Seven nations favour government efforts to discourage abortions, but in only oneIndonesiadoes a majority endorse their government using criminal penalties.
The other six that favour government efforts are divided between minorities who favor criminal penalties and who favour only non-punitive government efforts to discourage abortion, such as education, counseling and adoption services.
In seven nations the public is at odds with their country's laws. Contrary to their public's preferences, there are criminal penalties for abortion in Egypt, Iran, Mexico, Nigeria, the Palestinian Territories, Poland and South Korea.
On average across all 18 countries, 52 per cent favour leaving the matter of abortion to the individual, while 42 per cent think their government should try to discourage abortions.
"While it does appear that many people around the world are uncomfortable with abortion, few think that the government should use punitive means to try to prevent it," said Steven Kull, director of WorldPublicOpinion.org.
"Clearly many governments around the world using criminal penalties to try to prevent abortions are out of step with their publics."
WorldPublicOpinion.org is a collaborative research project or research centres from around the world, managed by the Program on International Policy Attitudes (PIPA) at the University of Maryland.
Margins of error range from plus minus 2 to 4 per cent.
In nine of the 18 nations, a majority said the government should leave these matters to the individual. This includes countries where abortion is legal: France (95 per cent), Great Britain (81 per cent), the United States (69 per cent), Ukraine (70 per cent), Russia (62 per cent), and China (67 per cent).
But it also includes three countries with highly restrictive laws: two predominantly Catholic countries Poland (66 per cent) and Mexico (70 per cent) though laws in Mexico have been liberalising) as well as South Korea (62 per cent).
In all nine of these countries, fewer than ten per cent favour criminal enforcement.
Majorities in seven countries favour government efforts to discourage abortions, though only one supports criminal enforcement.
The largest majority is in Indonesia, where nine out of ten (89 per cent) back government efforts, including 60 per cent who favour criminal enforcement.
In the other six nations majorities favour government efforts to discourage abortion, but not criminal penalties: Nigerians (84 per cent government efforts/42 per cent criminal penalties), Thais (66 per cent/ 27 per cent), Palestinians (57 per cent/ 25 per cent), Iranians (55 per cent/ 11 per cent), Egyptians (53 per cent/ 45 per cent), and Indians (53 per cent/ 26 per cent).
Views are divided between those who favour and oppose government intervention in Azerbaijan and Turkey. Small minorities favour criminal enforcement.
For the sample as a whole there is substantial variation by religion. Christians express the most liberal views: 65 per cent favour leaving the decision to individuals while just 8 per cent support criminal penalties.
Muslims show the highest support for government efforts to discourage abortion (59 per cent), including 31 per cent favouring criminal enforcement.
The intensity of religiosity is also related to attitudes. Support for government involvement increases from 25 per cent among those who are not at all religious to 65 per cent among those who are very religious.
Even among those who are very religious, however, just 32 per cent favour criminal penalties.
Only in Indonesia does this subgroup have a majority favouring criminal enforcement, though nearly half of very religious Palestinians (48 per cent) do.
Interestingly, though abortion is often framed as a women's rights issue, there are no significant differences between men and women.
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