Australia Poll Shows Most Want Abortion Waiting Period, More Limits 
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by Steven Ertelt
LifeNews.com Editor
September 14, 2007
Canberra, Australia (LifeNews.com) — New polling data form Australia shows most people there are in favor of more limits on abortions. A strong majority want laws in place requiring abortion practitioners to give women more information on the development of their unborn child and allowing them time to review the materials before an abortion.
The data comes from surveys the Sexton Marketing Group conducted from 2004 to 2006 and published in a new book on their polls.
According to the results, some 74 percent of Australians favor waiting periods before an abortion and more than half want abortion practitioners to give fetal development information.
The book claims that Australians have mixed views on abortion, with 83 percent supposedly backing legal abortions but another 88 percent wanting to see the current abortion rates decline. Most Australians are upset that the number of abortions there increased to 90,000 last year.
In other findings from the polling data:
* Some 62 percent of those polled say counseling services should be provided to women considering an abortion to help them find alternatives.
* Another 59 percent want a waiting period of at least seven days before an abortion can be done.
* On bioethics issues, 48 percent said a candidate’s position on human cloning could change their vote and 41 percent said the same about stem cell research. Thirty-five percent said a candidate’s position on the dangerous abortion drug RU 486 could affect their vote.
The polls included people randomly selected from phone books and the selections were modified to conform to the average ages, gender and ethnicity of the population.
