Where the law has gone furthest, it has moved well ahead of what the public morally accepts.
Abstract
Abortion law has been relaxed faster in Africa than anywhere else since 2000, but whether opinion has moved with it was unknowable before Afrobarometer’s Round 10 surveys of 2024/2025, which asked 50,961 people in 38 countries whether abortion can be justified in four circumstances. Opinion depends on the circumstance. Acceptance averages 66% when the woman’s health or life is in danger, 51% after rape or incest, 33% under economic hardship, and 29% for any reason. Religious affiliation does not predict opinion. Age, urban residence, schooling, and how common people believe abortion to be around them are stronger predictors. Law and opinion are only loosely connected. Publics are more accepting where the law is more permissive, but this association is just as strong for abortion to protect health – a ground for which abortion is lawful nearly everywhere – as for grounds on which legal restrictions vary. Within each person’s answers, what the law permits draws about 5 percentage points more acceptance than what it forbids, a difference that cannot be distinguished from zero. Where the law has gone furthest, it has moved well ahead of what the public morally accepts.
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Raymond Damptey Owusu Raymond Damptey Owusu is a PhD student in politics at the University of Strathclyde.
Emmanuel Boakye Emmanuel Boakye is a postgraduate researcher in management at Heriot-Watt University.