An overwhelming majority of Czechs support the right to abortion and euthanasia, according to a June poll by the Centre for Public Opinion Research of the Czech Academy of Sciences (CVVM) released on Friday.
However, public opinion on the legal regulation of prostitution is no longer so clear-cut; only around a third of people would legalise prostitution as a trade, while a tenth of respondents would ban it altogether.
The right of women to freely decide to have an abortion is supported by 84% of respondents. One tenth of Czechs think that abortion should be allowed only when health and social considerations for the child and the woman are taken into account, and 4% would only allow it if the pregnant woman’s life is in danger. Just 1% of respondents would ban abortion altogether.
More than four-fifths of people also agree with the legalisation of euthanasia, ie. the right of terminally ill people to end their own lives. 15% of respondents oppose the introduction of euthanasia and 4% have no clear opinion on the matter.
The most significant differences in opinion on both abortion and euthanasia are between Roman Catholics and non-religious people. Even among Catholics, there is majority support on both issues, but to a lesser extent than among non-religious people. 68% of Catholics agree with the right to abortion and with the legalisation of euthanasia. Among non-religious people, 91% of respondents support the right to abortion and 88% support legalizing euthanasia.
The legalisation of prostitution no longer has unanimous support among Czechs. The largest share of respondents (40%) would maintain the status quo, where prostitution is in a legal vacuum. The law does not directly address the provision of sexual services, but the phenomena associated with it, such as pimping, when someone induces or seduces another person to engage in prostitution, which is illegal. About a third of Czechs would officially allow prostitution and give it the form of a trade. On the other hand, 11% would ban prostitution altogether, and 8% of respondents would like to limit it by punishing people who offer or use sexual services.
There is a big difference between men and women in their views on prostitution. A total of 42% of men would legalise prostitution as a trade and only 6% would ban it. Among women, only 26% of respondents favor legalization and 16% would ban it.
CVVM conducted the survey from 30 May to 12 June this year. A total of 1,712 Czech residents over 15 took part in the survey.
