A poll of Canadian values presented at the Manning Centre conference did surprise me, but here you go, these are the results:
On moral issues, Canadians are more socially conservative than most of us would be led to believe. 89% of respondents strongly agreed with the statement “nothing is more important than family.” 67% strongly agreed that, by definition, “marriage is between a man and a woman.” And 60% strongly agree that abortion is morally wrong.
At the same time, only 31% feel government should play a major role regulating individual behaviour and morality, and there is a pretty even split (46%:50%) on the role of government in preserving the moral fabric of society.
After everything was over at the conference, I went out with a family friend. I told him about the poll. He scoffed and immediately, and much to my embarrassment, took a poll of one by asking the waiter if he agreed that marriage should be between one man and one woman. To which the waiter replied, “No (pause) and if I did I wouldn’t tell you.”
But perhaps he would tell a pollster anonymously? Anyway, interesting results.
by 
One possible explanation for this apparent discrepancy in our perceptions is that people make oppose abortion and support marriage, but the LEVEL of support is shallow. So they might think abortion is wrong, but won’t do anything about it, won’t speak out if someone chooses abortion, etc. So in effect, people don’t like abortion, but they keep quiet about it.
It seems to me that the reason the poll results are surprising is the major disconnect in Canada between media expression and personal public expression. That is to say media expression of events is different from what the public would say about those same events. This is due to the homogeneous worldview of the media and the plurality of the public. There is a different situation in the US where there is a media variety and different perceptions and analyses are applied to events. Consequently media goes further to explain the veracity of their particular position and the public is the better informed on issues and is less likely to be surprised by poll results. The handicap in the Canadian situation is the Canadian individual(s) can become isolated and conclude they are an insignificant minority that has a pointless position.
Here is a link for the most recent poll on abortion in Canada that I’m aware of: http://www.visioncritical.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/01/2010.01.15_Abortion_CAN.pdf
I think what shocked me about this particular poll was that, “Only one-in-five Canadians (20%) are aware of the current status-quo of abortion in Canada: a woman can have an abortion at any time during her pregnancy, with no restrictions whatsoever.”
Now, this poll has nothing to do with ones’ moral opinion, simply what legal and financial support (via social health care) one feels ought be given.
I suppose the hope is that eventually moral opinion will find its way into politics, but people who morally oppose abortion must first be aware that they’re morally in opposition to the country’s law. This requires they know what the law in fact is.
In the case of abortion, I might guess that many respondants do believe abortion is ‘morally wrong,’ but also believe that overly restricting abortion is morally wrong. That would match what seems to be the more popular position anecdotially – that abortion is often the lesser of several evils, and should be restricted but not completly prohibited, exceptions being allowed for various extenuating circumstances.
OK, I don’t get it. 60% find abortion to be morally wrong, but only 50% think we should do something about it? I can’t remember the exact numbers of the last major poll on abortion, but I’m pretty darned sure that 60% of Canadians weren’t against it then.
So what then, is it: “We agree that abortion is morally reprehensible and kills a baby, but we think that it’s worse for government to tell us what to do”?
I’ve spent some time these past few weeks thinking about this after speaking to my best friend who I honestly thought was prolife – she fell into the 80% who had no idea what Canada’s legal standing toward abortion is, although she works in a shelter for abused women. I found that the thinking that seems to predominately keep people from speaking out is that it is extremely rare, and *only* happens when it is absolutely necessary.
One would think that simple education would end this side of the argument easily. When I tried, I found more resistance than I was expecting, followed by a comment to the effect that “If it happens that often, it’s so horrible, I don’t want to know about it.”
Heather P, a big part of the problem is just as you said… the taboo on abortion. People don’t want to talk/hear about it. This makes it difficult to get accurate information as well as find out the real implications on women’s health.
There is also a fear of being labeled ‘pro life’, as this label can not only bring consequences (in some circumstances, being fired) but is portrayed by our current culture as a bigoted ‘intolerant’ stance. This fear keeps people from wanting to ‘impose’ their moral value on others. It’s the crux of post-modernity (our current western philosophy), “holds that there is no truth, no basic right or wrong”- James Dobson. So, if everyone is entitled to ‘their own opinion’, so long as it doesn’t affect the lives of others… where oh where do we begin? Lifting this taboo, I think, is an important step. Keep talking!