Abortion less immoral than shoplifting - Survey

By ART BABYCH
Canadian Catholic News
Ottawa

A Leger Marketing survey for the Canadian Press, released Feb. 18, shows that only 31.3 per cent of Canadians consider doctor-assisted suicide immoral and 41.8 per cent believe abortion to be immoral.

Shoplifting was ranked at the top of the list of 17 behavioural activities with 89.3 per cent of those surveyed saying it is immoral. Having an extramarital affair placed second at 80.8 per cent and taking hard drugs was third at 79.2.

Abortion was 10th on the list with 41.8 per cent saying it is immoral. Homosexuality - 13th on the list - was considered immoral by 32.1 per cent of respondents, followed by doctor-assisted suicide (31.3 per cent), and engaging in pre-marital sex (27.3 per cent).

Divorce, the last behavioural activity on the list, was considered immoral by 22.3 per cent.

Leger Marketing president Jean-Marc Leger said that in the last 10 years, the morality meter seems to have shifted away from issues such as divorce and homosexuality, the Canadian Press reported.

"When we touch on dishonesty, such as tax evasion, working under the table, that's seen as being more immoral than abortion or homosexuality."

Despite those findings, almost three-quarters of Canadians believe their fellow citizens have a strong sense of morals.

Most of the population (72.5 per cent) feels that Canadians have a strong sense of morals while 25 per cent think otherwise, the polling firm said.

The survey was conducted Jan. 8-13 through telephone interviews of 1,519 Canadians 18 years of age or older. Leger Marketing said the maximum margin of error from such a sampling is plus or minus 2.6 per cent, 19 times out of 20.

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