Today on the Victoria Derbyshire show, the BBC claimed that attitudes to abortion are changing in Great Britain, citing You Gov polling that showed that 53% of the public want to see the 24-week limit maintained or increased, compared with 45% in 2015.

By combining those who want the 24 week limit maintained with those who want it increased, the BBC is giving the somewhat misleading impression that there is some kind of significant public appetite for more relaxed abortion laws, but this is tenuous at best.

In fact, a mere 7% want the current law to be changed to permit abortion after 24 weeks.

In contrast, 23% of people want the time limit to be reduced and there has been an increase of 6% in the number of people who want to maintain the current law.

When you factor in those who want the current law to remain the same, those who want the law to be reduced, and those who want abortion to be banned, the figure shows that 74% of people do not support a change in the law to increase the time limit above 24 weeks.

The strongest support for a reduction in the time limit came from women, where 33% favoured a reduction, compared with only 6% who wanted an increase.

These findings demonstrate that there is no public appetite for a liberalisation of our abortion laws in the UK, despite the abortion lobby’s claims.

It is concerning that the BBC, a body that is supposed to maintain neutrality, is unfairly representing the public’s views on this issue.