In the 2025 federal campaign, which was dominated by how Canada would deal with the second presidency of Donald Trump in the United States, social issues understandably took a backseat. Still, just a fortnight before Election Day, federal Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre “guaranteed” that there would be “no laws or other restrictions imposed on a woman’s right to decide to do with her body as she wishes.”
Party platforms and statements from various Liberal Party and New Democratic Party leaders have consistently vowed not to revisit discussions about abortion. This is in stark contrast to the situation in the United States, where a court ruling failed to galvanize voters to back the Democrats.
The perceptions of Canadians on this topic have not swayed wildly for some time. Across the country, 49 per cent of Canadians told us earlier this month that abortion should be legal under any circumstances, up three points since our previous survey in August 2024.
More than a third of Canadians (37 per cent, up two points) believe abortion should be legal only under certain circumstances, while eight per cent (up one point) think the procedure should be illegal in all circumstances.
The fact that practically half of Canadians endorse the legality of abortion regardless of the situation is remarkable. This is the highest proportion observed since I started tracking this question in 2013. Since then, the number of Canadians who call for the complete abolition of abortion has only hit double-digits once, in April 2022. Put differently, a Canadian “Pro-Life” movement that would pass the staunchest purity test would not encompass one in 10 of the country’s residents.
On a regional basis, support for the legality of abortion under any circumstances is highest in Quebec (58 per cent), followed by Saskatchewan and Manitoba (57 per cent) British Columbia (49 per cent), Atlantic Canada (46 per cent) and Ontario (also 46 per cent). Only in Alberta do we see a plurality of respondents expressing a preference for abortion under certain conditions (43 per cent) rather than under any (37 per cent).
A separate question looked into current regulations, which allow for abortions to be funded by the health-care system and provided on request to Canadian citizens and permanent residents.
The distribution of responses is similar to what is seen on the first question, with a larger proportion of Canadians (44 per cent, down two points) endorsing the existing guidelines and a smaller one (35 per cent, down one point) thinking the procedure should only be funded by the health-care system in the event of medical emergencies. Only 11 per cent of Canadians (up four points) believe the health care system should not fund abortions at all.
Political allegiance tells the story on this question, with majorities of Canadians who voted for the Liberals or the New Democrats earlier this year (54 per cent and 51 per cent respectively) endorsing the status quo. This view is shared by just 32 per cent of Conservatives, with a larger proportion (44 per cent) believing the health-care system should only fund abortions in the event of medical emergencies.
Most Canadians are not ready to go back to the divisive disputes of the 1980s. More than three in five respondents to our survey (62 per cent, up four points) believe there is no point in re-opening a debate about abortion in Canada right now, while 24 per cent (up one point) think a debate about abortion is long overdue in Canada and the discussion should be re-opened.
Appetite for re-opening the abortion debate reached its peak in 2019 at 37 per cent, but has never come close to the same level in subsequent years. Only 29 per cent of Conservative voters think this is a good idea, slightly higher than the appetite espoused by Liberals (21 per cent) and New Democrats (20 per cent).
The results suggest that there would be complications ahead for the Conservative Party if it chooses to cater to its roughly three in 10 voters who want to re-open the debate on abortion. A discussion on funding might be more productive than overtures about a complete ban. Perhaps this was why Poilievre chose to steer clear from any debate when the federal campaign was still competitive.
Results are based on an online study conducted from Aug. 8-11, 2025, among 1,002 adults in Canada. The data has been statistically weighted according to Canadian census figures for age, gender and region in Canada. The margin of error—which measures sample variability—is +/- 3.1 percentage points, 19 times out of 20.
