Poll: UK Catholics not solid against abortion

Briefing: John Smeaton, Chairman of SPUC, points out that 'The CFFC/YouGov poll was not a poll of practising Catholics and therefore the claims made by CFFC on the back of this poll have no credibility.' Presumably it is a poll of 'self identifying' Catholics; it retains some interest as a picture of people who think they are Catholics--but evidently are not.

From CFNews: A poll of adults in the UK has shown 43% of Catholics agreed that it should be legal for a woman to have an abortion when she has an unwanted pregnancy with only 27% disagreeing. A further 20% said they neither disagreed or agreed. The survey also found that 42% of Catholics agreed with the view that the Catholic bishops concentrated too much of their attention on abortion when there were other issues that also required their attention.

The YouGov poll of 1,983 adults in the UK was conducted online earlier this month for the US-based group Catholics for Choice, which is to brief MPs on its findings. The poll found the highest level of support for abortion among the general population with 63% of all respondents agreeing it should be legal for a woman to have an abortion when she has an unwanted pregnancy. This figure fell to 58% of people who identified themselves as Protestant. The survey findings come as the Human Fertilisation and Embryology Bill was debated in the House of Lords earlier this week. Both pro-Life and pro-choice groups are expected to attempt to use the Bill to change the law on abortion.

Scottish Catholic leader Cardinal Keith O'Brien and the leader of Catholics in England and Wales Cardinal Cormac Murphy-O'Connor, issued a letter last month saying the 200,000 abortions a year in England and Wales were a source of 'distress and profound anguish'.

President of Catholics for Choice Jon O'Brien said: 'The poll results demonstrate to us an important point that is often ignored or glossed over in discussions about the law on abortion - namely, that British people, of all faiths and none, trust women and families to make their own decisions when it comes to the choice to terminate a pregnancy or bring a child into the world.'