International - India & World   

Majority of Indians against criminal penalty to check abortion: survey

New York: Nearly half of Indians favour government action for discouraging abortion but a majority are still against criminal penalties to stop it, according to a new survey. India is among 17 out of 18 nations polled in the international survey which reject using fines and imprisonment. The survey, released by WorldPublicOpinion.org Wednesday, has found that 53 per cent of the respondents in India favour government action for discouraging abortion but only 26 per cent want criminal penalties. In nine nations, the majority believe that their government should leave this matter to individuals.

Interviews with 18,465 respondents were conducted in 18 countries representing 59 per cent of the world’s population. These include most of the largest countries, China, India, the United States, Indonesia, Nigeria, and Russia.

Seven nations favour government efforts to discourage abortions, but in only one, Indonesia, do a majority endorse their government using criminal penalties. The other six that favour government efforts are divided between minorities who favour criminal penalties and who favour only non-punitive efforts such as education, counselling and adoption services.

In seven nations, the public are 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 to the individual, while 42 per cent think that 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.”

In nine of the 18 nations, a majority said the government should leave these matters to the individual. These include countries where abortion is legal: France (95 per cent), Great Britain (81), the United States (69 ), Ukraine (70 ), Russia (62 ), and China (67 ).

In three other countries the laws are highly restrictive: two predominantly Catholic countries, Poland (66 per cent) and Mexico (70) though laws in Mexico have been liberalised) as well as South Korea (62).

In all these nine countries, fewer than 10 per cent favour criminal enforcement.

Of the seven countries which favour government efforts to discourage abortions, in Indonesia, nine out of 10 (89 per cent) do so.They include 60 per cent who favour criminal enforcement.

Nigerians (84 per cent government efforts/42 per cent criminal penalties), Thais (66 / 27), Palestinians (57 / 25), Iranians (55 / 11), Egyptians (53 / 45), and Indians (53 / 26).

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, just 32 per cent favour criminal penalties.

Only in Indonesia does this sub-group 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. 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. — PTI

Printer friendly page  
Send this article to Friends by E-Mail

Stories in this Section

Climate forecasts to warn spread of illness
Committed to Sri Lanka peace: Oslo
U.S. Midwest reels under severe flooding
U.K. ratifies Lisbon Treaty
Cloned immune cells fight cancer
Ruling coalition backs Abdullah
Case against Asif dropped
Milder sentence for fraudster
China stresses on strategic partnership
Majority of Indians against criminal penalty to check abortion: survey
India Chair at Shenzen varsity
Colombo warns Lanka IOC of takeover
Rice: historic transformation in India ties

Copyright © 2008, The Hindu. Republication or redissemination of the contents of this screen are expressly prohibited without the written consent of The Hindu