Abortion Rights in Canada

May 17, 2024

From May 10 to May 12, 2024, we surveyed Canadians to find out their opinions and perceptions on abortion rights and how the situation in the United States could affect theirs in Canada.

Some of the key highlights of our survey on abortion rights include…

  • A majority of Canadians (80%) are in favour of a woman’s right to an abortion if she so chooses, while around one in ten (11%) are opposed, and 9% don’t know where they stand on the matter. Women and Canadians 55 years of age or more are more likely to be in favour of the women’s right to choose (respectively 84%).
  • Half of Canadians (49%) think the situation in the United States with regards to the right to an abortion will have an impact here in Canada, while around three in ten Canadians (31%) think it will not. Men (35%), people 55 years of age or older (35%), and Quebecers (37%) are more likely to think the situation with regard to the right to abortion in the United States will not have an impact here in Canada.
  • Roughly one in four Canadians (27%) think that Justin Trudeau’s political party is the most committed to protecting abortion rights, while close to one in three (32%) think that Pierre Poilievre’s party is the least committed to protecting those same rights.
  • One in four Canadians (25%) would support their province using the “notwithstanding clause” to ban discussions about sexual orientation and gender identity in schools in their province. This represents a significant decrease of 12 percentage points compared to the results obtained in October 2023.

Methodology

This web survey was conducted from May 10 to 12, 2024, with 1,545 Canadians aged 18 or older, randomly recruited from LEO’s online panel. A margin of error cannot be associated with a non-probability sample in a panel survey. For comparison, a probability sample of 1,545 respondents would have a margin of error of ±2.5 %, 19 times out of 20.

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