No consensus to change Queensland abortion law, but strong support for safeguards for women

You could be excused for thinking that the vast majority of Queenslanders would support the decriminalisation of abortion, given the exaggerated claims of the pro-abortion lobby of up to 90% support for legal abortion.

In fact, Queensland voters are evenly split on whether the law should be changed, according to the first comprehensive market research on the abortion issue in the state, which was taken on 15 to 17 October - the weekend after the Cairns abortion trial (see the 51 page report What Queenslanders Really Think About Abortion).

With 13 specific, objectively-worded questions, this randomised telephone poll of 400 Queensland voters avoided skimming the surface of the issue as most past polls have done and drilled down to discover the considered opinion of the Queensland public on the abortion issue now - not one year ago or two years ago.

Conducted by independent market research firm Galaxy Research on behalf of the Australian Family Association, this research shows that there is no consensus among Queensland voters for a change in the law - with 49% either in favor of keeping the law as it is or making it stricter and 47% preferring it to be less restrictive.

Similarly, 50% of Queensland voters say they do not want abortion decriminalised, while 48% are in favour of decriminalisation.

Of course, decriminalisation would mean that abortion would be legal for any reason until birth. That is the model that the pro-abortion lobby is pushing here, and it has been the law in the ACT since 2002 and in Victoria since 2008.

In Victoria, a doctor is supposed to obtain a second medical opinion before proceeding with an abortion past 24 weeks of pregnancy, but in reality this is nothing but a façade and a sham as there is no requirement for the second doctor to see the woman or even look at her file.

Since the law was changed in Victoria two years ago, late-term abortions being performed in the Royal Women's Hospital in Melbourne have risen six times - from one a fortnight to three a week - and this has put great stress on hospital staff, according to a recent Channel 7 News report.

The Galaxy research showed that Queenslanders are not only conflicted about abortion; they are also uneasy and worried about its negative effects on women, with 77% agreeing that abortion can harm the physical and/or mental health of a woman.

One of the interesting findings in this survey is that when the question was asked, “Up to what stage of pregnancy would you allow abortion”, 29% of Queensland voters said “not at all” and a further 45% said only up to 3 months - meaning that 74% of Queenslanders are opposed to abortion after the first trimester.

A total of 88% of Queenslanders are opposed to late-term abortion after 20 weeks of pregnancy, with only 7% in favor.

The research also showed that 49% of Queenslanders are opposed to abortion for non-medical, that is financial or social, reasons, with 46% in favor.