\n<\/p>\n
New polling has found that whatever their party political leanings, an overwhelming majority of people support the right to access an abortion \u2013 although young people, in particular, fear reproductive rights may be reduced.<\/p>\n
The YouGov polling, commissioned by MSI Reproductive Choices to mark its 50th anniversary, found nine in 10 people support the right to access an abortion.<\/p>\n
This was the case with 94% of Labour voters, 91% of Conservative voters, 95% of Green voters and 86% of Reform voters, pointing to one of the clearest indicators of cross-party political consensus in the UK.<\/p>\n
The survey also found almost one in five people think abortion access could be reduced, rising to more than a quarter of 18- to 25-year-olds. Respondents cited developments in the US and the rise of the far right as factors.<\/p>\n
Katie, 28, moved to the UK from Nebraska soon after the US supreme court overturned Roe v Wade, removing the federal right to abortion.<\/p>\n
Katie said: \u201cWhen that decision was overturned, it fundamentally changed how I saw my future in the country. It felt like a clear signal that even deeply personal medical decisions were no longer protected. That loss of autonomy played a major role in cementing my decision to move to the UK.<\/p>\n
\u201cMy experience here has been very different,\u201d she added. \u201cI feel genuinely cared for by the healthcare system in a way I never did in the United States. That sense of security and support has made a meaningful difference in my life.\u201d<\/p>\n
While abortion is often seen as a taboo subject, the polling found that more than two-thirds of people said they were comfortable discussing their views on abortion, rising to three-quarters among young people.<\/p>\n
<\/span>Daisy Roscoe.<\/span> Photograph: MSI<\/p>\n Daisy Roscoe, 23, from London found out she was pregnant eight months after having a baby last year.<\/p>\n \u201cI had a difficult pregnancy with my daughter,\u201d she said. \u201cBeing pregnant is different for everyone and it\u2019s not something you should feel obligated to go through.<\/p>\n \u201cA lot of the women in my family have had abortions but I\u2019m the first person to keep a pregnancy and have an abortion in my friend group,\u201d she added. \u201cI was really clear with all my friends that this was my choice. I invited the women around me to ask me questions. I was clear about what happened, the process and what happened afterwards. We feel comfortable sharing information about pregnancy so why would we not speak openly about abortion?\u201d<\/p>\n However, Roscoe also said she was \u201cvery concerned\u201d about news coming from the US about reproductive rights.<\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s definitely my age group where I see a lot of worry about reproductive rights and fears around US politics bleeding into the UK,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n <\/span>Sophie Verstraeten<\/span> Photograph: MSI<\/p>\n Sophie Verstraeten, 27, lives in south London. She has been in a relationship for nearly nine years and has always known that she and her partner did not want children.<\/p>\n \u201cA lot of my friendship group are male. I was open with all of them about having an abortion and they were so supportive,\u201d she said. \u201cThey all responded asking if there\u2019s anything that they can do. They knew I was supported in my relationship but there was no hesitation that they would be available if I needed them at any point too.\u201d<\/p>\n She added: \u201cI feel hopeful about the future of reproductive rights here, but it\u2019s important to not be complacent. You still need to be aware of what\u2019s going on in the world. Until you\u2019re in that situation, you don\u2019t know how you\u2019re going to feel. There are so many unknowns.<\/p>\n \u201cThat\u2019s why it\u2019s important to talk about our experiences with abortion. I can\u2019t imagine it being a part of my life that I don\u2019t talk about. So many people have abortions, so I don\u2019t understand why we can\u2019t talk about it like other medical procedures.\u201d<\/p>\n Louise McCudden, the UK head of external relations and advocacy at MSI Reproductive Choices (formerly Marie Stopes International), said the findings \u201cremind us that people are united on abortion\u201d and that it has \u201cbecome a mainstream, openly discussed part of life\u201d.<\/p>\n McCudden said:\u201cOver the past 50 years, we\u2019ve seen a clear arc of progress towards greater openness and understanding, yet the loud anti-abortion minority get a disproportionate amount of attention in public debate. These findings show that anti-abortion views are far from mainstream.<\/p>\n \u201cNine in 10 people in this country are pro-choice, and one in three women has an abortion in her lifetime,\u201d she added. \u201cAt a time of global attacks on reproductive rights, most notably in the United States, we can be proud that there are MPs from all major parties who have voted to improve our Victorian abortion laws, to protect abortion clinics from harassment through safe access zones, and to protect telemedicine.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" New polling has found that whatever their party political leanings, an overwhelming majority of people support the right to access an abortion \u2013 although young people, in particular, fear reproductive rights may be reduced. The YouGov polling, commissioned by MSI Reproductive Choices to mark its 50th anniversary, found nine in 10 people support the right<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":48684,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[51],"tags":[5457,189,19623,3024,14757,702,694,2980],"class_list":{"0":"post-48683","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-health","8":"tag-abortion","9":"tag-finds","10":"tag-parties","11":"tag-poll","12":"tag-reproductive","13":"tag-rights","14":"tag-support","15":"tag-voters"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/48683","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=48683"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/48683\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/48684"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=48683"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=48683"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=48683"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}