One in six women in Canada have had an abortion: survey

Around two in five Canadian women say they know a close friend or family member who has had an abortion, and one in six women report having had an abortion, according to a new survey.

The survey also found that the majority of both women who have had an abortion and women who carried an unwanted pregnancy to term feel they made the right decision and stand by their choice — although the rate of regret was slightly lower among those who got an abortion.

The data comes from the first part of a new series by the Angus Reid Institute, a nonprofit research foundation.

Around 1,800 Canadians, 921 of whom were women, were surveyed in August for the series as a whole, which aims to create a snapshot of how Canadians experience and navigate abortion and unwanted pregnancies.

Overall, 16 per cent of women said they had gotten an abortion themselves, while 15 per cent reported having carried an unwanted pregnancy to term and four per cent said they had experienced both scenarios.

The survey only asked about surgical or procedural abortions, excluding medical abortions which may occur via a prescribed oral medication in the early weeks of pregnancy.

Since the U.S. Supreme Court overturned Roe vs. Wade earlier this year, stripping away abortion rights in a decision that made headlines around the world, the status of abortion rights in Canada has been a renewed source of concern for those worried that we could see similar rights stripped away. Abortion is legal in Canada, but it isn’t protected federally.

Sixteen per cent of women who reported having an abortion said that it was either difficult or nearly impossible to access.

Another quarter stated that it was “not that difficult” with more than half reporting they had no problems accessing abortion services.

Concerns have been raised before about patchwork access to abortion across Canada. A 2016 United Nations Human Rights Commissioners report highlighted that there was a concerning lack of access, and other investigations have found that a lack of abortion providers means that for women in rural areas in particular, acquiring an abortion can be a serious ordeal.

• Read more: Not a 'uniform experience': Women share their triumphs and concerns with accessing abortion in Canada

The survey found that abortion is an issue that has touched almost half of Canadian women, with 41 per cent saying they knew someone who had received an abortion.

Women aged 55-64 were the most likely to know someone who had an abortion, at 44 per cent, while women aged 45-54 were the least likely to know someone who had an abortion (37 per cent) but the most likely to have had an abortion themselves, at 23 per cent.

The survey stated that this aligns with abortion levels in Canada, which were higher between 1996 and 2011.

Although abortion is often treated as a highly politicized topic, women across the political spectrum reported abortion affecting their lives, either through themselves or a close friend or family.

Women who voted Conservative were the most likely to have gotten an abortion, at 18 per cent, compared to 14 per cent of women who voted Liberal and 16 per cent of women who voted NDP. However, they were the least likely to say they knew a close friend or family member who had gotten an abortion, with only 37 per cent compared to 40 per cent of Liberal voters and 54 per cent of NDP voters.

Abortion can be a complex medical decision that evokes a range of emotions in the person making that choice.

For the vast majority of women surveyed who reported having an abortion, they felt it was the right decision, with 65 per cent stating they had no regrets and 28 per cent stating that while they have some regrets, they still believe it was the right choice. Two per cent were unsure, and six per cent wished they made a different decision.

Out of Canadian women who carried an unwanted pregnancy to term instead of getting an abortion, there was a similarly high level of confidence in their decision, with 54 per cent saying they had no regrets at all, while 25 per cent said they had some regrets but still stood by the decision.

Uncertainty was much higher and strong regret was slightly higher in this group, with 11 per cent stating they were not sure how they felt about the decision when looking back, and 10 per cent saying they believe now it was the wrong decision.

The unplanned pregnancies carried to term were mostly kept by the mother in question, with 57 per cent of this group saying they had chosen to raise the baby. Around 22 per cent placed the baby up for adoption, while 21 per cent said they made some other arrangement.

Although similar percentages of women reported having an abortion as those who reported going through with an unplanned pregnancy, the rate of respondents who knew someone with an unplanned pregnancy was much lower than those who knew someone who had received an abortion.

Around 21 per cent of women surveyed said they knew a close friend or family member who had gone through with an unplanned pregnancy.

The highest percentage of women who had gone through with an unwanted pregnancy themselves was women over the age of 65 years, at 19 per cent, although the second-highest percentage belonged to women between the ages of 35-44 years, at 18 per cent. 

METHODOLOGY 

The Angus Reid Institute conducted an online survey from Aug. 29 to 30, 2022. A representative, randomized sample of 1,805 Canadian adults who are members of the Angus Reid Forum were surveyed. According to the Institute, for comparison purposes only, "a probability sample of this size would carry a margin of error of +/-2 percentage points, 19 times out of 20. Discrepancies in or between totals are due to rounding," it states on its website. The survey was also self-comissioned and paid for by the Institute.