To the likely dismay of Downing Street, Jeremy Hunt’s comments on abortion are leading the news this morning, with David Cameron’s restatement of support for the NHS entirely overshadowed.
In response to Hunt’s call for a halving of the abortion time limit, from 24 weeks to 12, the Guardian’s Katharine Viner tweeted: “If men could get pregnant, what would be the time limit on abortion?” It’s a good question, but what’s interesting (and to many, surprising) is that women have more conservative views on the subject than men.
A YouGov poll published in January found that 49% of women favoured a lower limit, compared with 24% of men. Of that 49%, 11% want it reduced to 22 weeks, 14% to 20 weeks and 23% to “below 20 weeks”. Thirty per cent of women would like the limit to remain at 24 weeks, compared with 39% of men. However, asked if abortion should be banned altogether, eight per cent of men said it should, compared with five per cent of women.
In total, just 17% of people shared Hunt’s view that the legal limit should be reduced to “below 20 weeks”. Thirty four per cent said that it should remain at 24 weeks, five per cent said it should be increased, eight per cent said it should be reduced to 22 weeks and 12 per cent said it should be reduced to 20 weeks.
The unrepresentative nature of Hunt’s views is further evidence of why the Health Secretary has done his party no favours by promoting them so strongly.
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