Close to half of Canadians may say they prefer the legal status quo on abortion, but more than nine-in-ten appear not to understand what that status quo involves, a new Angus Reid Strategies poll suggests.

As a news release from Canada News-Wire noted, Angus Reid reported last June that 46 percent of Canadians approved of maintaining the status quo on abortion in Canada. Yet this latest poll found that 92 percent did not know that the status quo allows a woman to have an abortion in all circumstances and at any time between conception and birth.

The poll also found that around 95 per cent of respondents agreed that women considering an abortion should be fully informed about all the other options available to them, as well as the possible physical and psychological effects on themselves of having had an abortion.

By a similar overwhelming margin, Canadians said they could not support abortion in cases where the unborn child’s gender was not what the parents were hoping for.

“Society recognizes that choice is not an absolute,” said Yvonne Douma, executive director of the human rights advocacy group Signal Hill, which had issued the news release. “Some choices cannot be supported, as is evident with gender selection abortions. But informed consent is vital to making good choices, and we do not see women getting all the information they need when making these life-changing decisions.”