Spain is at the forefront of Europe in terms of protection of women’s rights and freedoms. An Ipsos survey on the voluntary de-criminalization of pregnancy shows that the Spaniards support this right by more than 20 points more than the group of Europeans. Notably, 70% of those consulted in Spain support that “abortion should be legal in all or most cases”, while the average of the eleven countries studied lowers that support to 49%. . The states that are part of the panel are Germany, France, United Kingdom, Italy, Spain, Sweden, Netherlands, Belgium, Hungary, Poland and Romania.
Also, women’s opposition to this privilege is much less in Spain (17%) than in the European sample, where it reaches 31% of those consulted. The field work was done between June and July and also shows that the situation is pretty much the same when it comes to some specific beliefs. For example: a pregnancy that endangers the health or life of the mother; It is the result of a rape, or one which requires a serious disability for the child.
A clear majority of PP voters and a narrow one among Vox voters support the legality of abortion.
Of these beliefs, more than 80% of those consulted – in Spain and across Europe – believe that abortion should be legal; And only in the case of possible malformation of the child, support for the validity of interruption of pregnancy falls to a little less than 80%. Similarly, there is a great coincidence between the European average and the Spanish rate regarding the duration of “abortion should be legal for any woman”.
In this sense, more than 70% of Spaniards and all Europeans believe that abortion should be legal “during the first 6 weeks of pregnancy”. This rate is higher than 55% of those when the period of interruption in pregnancy covers the first 14 weeks of gestation. And the time is exactly that established by current Spanish law during which a woman can make a decision about the termination of her pregnancy.
Conversely, when the legal abortion period is extended to 20 weeks, support decreases and rejection reaches the same or even higher percentage of support. Notably, only 37% of Spaniards support this notion, while the European average is 33%. At the same time, rejection among Spaniards rises to 35% and across Europe is closer to 38%.
However, the most important aspect of the survey is the range of positions it appears on Spanish society. For example, women (73%) are more in favor than men (68%) that “abortion should be legal in all or most cases.” Support for this thesis is also higher among those under 35 (73%) than among those over 50 (68%). On the other hand, it is lower in people with a lower educational level (62%) than in those with a higher education (72%).
Now what is really shocking is the position of the electoral groups. As expected, support for the legalization of abortion in all or most cases is more than 80% among PSOE and United We Can voters. Surprisingly, this position is also in the majority among PP voters: 59 percent in favor versus 26% in opposition. And, beware, although by a narrow margin, there are more Vox voters (47%) who share this view as well, who believe that “abortion should be illegal in all or most cases”.
data sheet
universe: Population aged 16 to 74 years
scope: 27 countries of the world; 11, European (France, Hungary, Italy, Germany, Great Britain, Spain, Belgium, Netherlands, Poland, Romania and Sweden).
patterns: 1,000 interviews in Spain; 7,000, in the rest of the European countries. Ipsos Global Advisory Panel. Field work between 24 June to 8 July 2022.
error range: ±3.5 points for global data in Spain and ±1.2 points for European countries; Maximum uncertainty hypothesis p=q=50.
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