Christians say television adverts will lead to sharp rise in abortions
By Ed West
15 May 2009

Most Christians believe that abortion advertisements on television will "dramatically increase" the number of abortions in Britain, according to a new survey.

The result came as it emerged that most pregnancies among girls under 18 in England and Wales ended in abortion last year.

The survey by polling agency ComRes suggested that 65 per cent of Christians believed that Britain's abortion rate would dramatically increase as a result of the adverts. Among Catholics that number was 75 per cent.

Most Christians - 69 per cent - also disagreed with the suggestion that the adverts would encourage viewers to be more responsible in deciding whether to have an abortion. Catholics were more likely to disagree with this claim (78 per cent), with 38 per cent of them disagreeing strongly, compared to only 16 per cent of Anglicans. But Christians were divided on whether to ban condom adverts on television and radio, with 44 per cent agreeing on a ban and 50 per cent opposed. Catholics were most likely to want a ban - by 60 to 33 per cent.

Christians overall opposed a review of advertising codes, which would make it easier to broadcast sex-related advertisements - more than 70 per cent wanted restrictions kept.

Meanwhile, the pro-life group LIFE has asked the faithful to petition the Advertising Standards Authority against the proposal to allow abortion agencies to advertise on television and radio. A copy of the petition is available at www.lifecharity.org.uk.

ComRes surveyed 512 British Christians on Cpanel between April 22 and May 1. Fieldwork was conducted online. Data was weighted by denomination and churchmanship according to the 2005 Church census. ComRes is a member of the British Polling Council and follows its rules. Full tables at www.comres.co.uk.