There are growing concerns about access to abortion in Canada after the leak of a draft document that suggests U.S. Supreme Court justices are planning to overturn the Roe v. Wade abortion rights ruling south of the border.
As it stands, there are currently no Canadian laws that explicitly guarantee access to abortion as a right.
While abortion was decriminalized in Canada in 1988 as a result of the landmark R. v. Morgentaler case in which the Supreme Court of Canada struck down a federal law, no legislation was ever passed to replace it, and the issue remains an ongoing topic of political conversation in this country.
To protect abortion rights in the future under all governments, constitutional law expert and University of Ottawa professor Daphne Gilbert told CTV’s Your Morning the federal government would have to make an amendment to the Charter of Rights and Freedoms. However, she said this likely would not happen.
“They’d have to try to amend the charter to have an explicit right to abortion in the Constitution, and I think that’s a pretty unlikely scenario,” Gilbert said in an interview.
Gilbert said it is more likely instead that the Liberals will make good on their election promise to strengthen the Canada Health Act to ensure that provinces have to comply with “equality of access to abortion” across the country.
In their 2021 election campaign, the Liberals promised to establish regulations under the Canada Health Act governing accessibility for sexual and reproductive health services to make clear that no matter where someone lives, they have access to sexual and reproductive health services.
The Liberals also vowed to give Health Canada $10 million to set up a portal for sexual and reproductive health information, including countering misinformation about abortion, and provide funding to youth-led organizations focused on young people’s reproductive health needs.
If a party were to introduce legislation to re-criminalize abortion in Canada in the future, Gilbert said it would be “extremely difficult” for such an attempt to withstand constitutional challenge.
Gilbert said jurisprudence involving Canada’s charter cases “has evolved so much” that if the Supreme Court weighed in, “it would be impossible for me to imagine that they say there’s no right.”
R. V. MORGENTALER
However, the right to an abortion doesn’t exist in Canada in the same way it is enshrined in Roe v. Wade.
The Morgentaler ruling in 1988 didn’t concern abortion as a right, but focused on the requirement that a woman must get approval from a committee of doctors in order for the procedure to be carried out legally.
The 5-2 decision ruled that aspect of the procedure was unconstitutional, and effectively removed the criminal punishment for women who got an abortion without consultation.
Justice Bertha Wilson, who was the only female on the court, found that Section 7 which deals with life, liberty and security of person, along with other parts of Canada’s Charter, did affirm a woman’s right to an abortion.
But despite this, no bill has ever been passed to enshrine abortion access into law and it’s also not considered a constitutionally-protected right under the Charter of Rights and Freedoms.
Since the Morgentaler decision, Gilbert said Canadian courts have made a number of decisions about the importance of decision-making autonomy in regards to Section 7. There have been several opinions issued at various levels of the legal system that say Canadians have the right to make fundamental decisions about their life and health, the most recent being 2015’s Carter decision that legalized medical assistance in dying (MAiD).
Gilbert said the right to an abortion is no different.
“I think it would be unlikely [given Section 7] that any attempt to criminally regulate abortion could withstand constitutional challenge,” she said.
ABORTION IN CANADA
Across Canadian provinces, abortions are regulated similarly to other health-care procedures. Through the Canada Health Act, Canadians have a right to access sexual and reproductive health services, which includes abortion.
However, it remains difficult to obtain in many provinces.
Abortions can be done medically via a pill or other medication taken at home, however, if the fetus is over 12 weeks old, a surgical abortion is required.
According to Planned Parenthood Toronto, there are only 11 clinics in Ontario that offer surgical abortion, most of which are located in the southern region of the province. New Brunswick, for example, doesn’t have a single clinic offering surgical abortion.
According to a study published by Action Canada for Sexual Health and Rights in 2019, no providers in Canada offer abortion services more than 23 weeks and six days into a pregnancy. Those who are this far into their pregnancy and looking for an abortion often travel to the United States for the procedure instead, which would be in jeopardy should Roe v. Wade be overturned.
While politicians here have stressed that Canadas’s abortion law is secure, Gilbert said she worries about “opening up this conversation again.”
“In Canada, our anti-choice groups are heavily funded by American anti-choice groups and so I expect we’re going to be seeing a real concerted effort to make this a conversation in Canada,” she said.
Since there are currently no Canadian laws that explicitly guarantee access to abortion as a right, Gilbert said “there is absolutely no doubt” that provinces could implement barriers to abortion access as it is a matter of health care, something that is provincially regulated.
She noted that limits on how late in a pregnancy an abortion can be performed are determined at the provincial or territorial level in Canada, and enforced by the medical community, not the courts.
“Over the past few years we’ve dismantled many of those barriers, like needing a doctor referral to get an abortion or refusal to pay for clinic abortions or out-of-province abortions, but some of these things could come back up as provincial issues,” she said.
Because of this, Gilbert said the rollback of Roe v. Wade in the U.S. should put activists, officials and those who may need or seek an abortion in Canada on high alert.
“We could see waiting periods, we could see mandatory counselling scripts, and those are things that I think we have to be very watchful for and not be complacent in Canada,” she said.
A draft opinion, published by Politico on May 2, revealed that a majority of the U.S. Supreme Court’s nine justices were in favour of striking down the decision. Written by Justice Samuel Alito, the ruling would allow individual U.S. states to decide whether or not to restrict access on abortion and the legal regulations around the procedure.
The release of the draft itself will not immediately affect access to abortions in the U.S. However, if the majority votes as predicted, the decision would be overturned with the formal release of the court’s ruling, which is likely to take place in June.
OTTAWA – Ottawa police say two people were arrested this morning after an “unlawful” demonstration outside Stornoway, the official residence the Opposition leader.
Greenpeace Canada says its activists blocked Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre’s house and two of them locked themselves to a replica oil pumpjack placed in the driveway.
The non-profit has been critical of Poilievre’s climate change voting record and his advocacy for the oil and gas sector.
Ottawa police say in a statement that about 12 people gathered outside Stornoway shortly after 7 a.m., blocking access to the residence with a “structure” and “not allowing the family to pass.”
Police say two of the demonstrators refused to comply with “repeated” orders to remove themselves from the structure and were arrested.
They say charges are pending against the two men who were due to appear in court today.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Nov. 21, 2024.
HALIFAX – If Nova Scotia’s Liberal Party is elected to govern on Tuesday, leader Zach Churchill says that within the first 100 days he would call for a meeting of the Atlantic premiers to discuss replacing the federal carbon tax.
Speaking at a news conference Thursday at Liberal campaign headquarters in Halifax, Churchill said he would try to sell the other premiers on his plan to use a regional cap-and-trade system to reduce carbon emissions.
Churchill has said newly elected New Brunswick Premier Susan Holt is interested in the idea, though she has yet to commit to such a plan. He said there’s an opportunity persuade Prince Edward Island Premier Dennis King and Newfoundland and Labrador Premier Mark Furey.
“We know it isn’t the right policy for pollution pricing in Atlantic Canada,” said Churchill, who has distanced himself from Liberal Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, whose government introduced the carbon price.
“We’ve got four governments that do not want the carbon tax, and we have an alternative that can lower prices at the pump while doing our part to reduce emissions.”
He acknowledged that if the federal Liberals lose the election slated for next year, the carbon tax will likely be eliminated, negating the need for a cap-and-trade system.
Churchill said that within 100 days of taking office, a provincial Liberal government would also alert Ottawa to its plan to reduce the harmonized sales tax to 13 per cent from 15 per cent; appoint a minister of women’s health; and recall the legislature to table a budget with income tax cuts and plans to build 80,000 new homes.
Meanwhile, Nova Scotia’s three main political leaders were scheduled Thursday to take part in a “roundtable discussion” organized by CTV News in Halifax. Churchill was expected to be joined by Progressive Conservative Leader Tim Houston, who is seeking a second term in office, and NDP Leader Claudia Chender.
The 90-minute exchange, moderated by CTV News anchor Todd Battis, is to be televised at 6:30 p.m. local time.
Last Thursday, the leaders appeared together on CBC TV, and they also sparred during an event hosted earlier this week by the Halifax Chamber of Commerce.
At dissolution, the Progressive Conservatives held 34 seats in the 55-seat legislature and the Liberals held 14 seats, while the NDP had six and there was one Independent.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Nov. 21, 2024.
Wednesday is Transgender Day of Remembrance, which focuses on trans people who have lost their lives because of violence. Here is what to know.
What is Transgender Day of Remembrance?
Transgender Day of Remembrance is marked every Nov. 20 and began in 1999 to honor Rita Hester, a trans woman who was killed in Massachusetts.
The day marks the end of Transgender Awareness Week, which is used to raise public knowledge about transgender people and the issues they face.
The Williams Institute at UCLA Law estimates that 1.6 million people in the U.S. ages 13 and older identify as transgender. And it says transgender people are over four times more likely than cisgender people to be victims of violence, including rape and assault.
Candlelight vigils, memorials and other events are held to mark the day. The Human Rights Campaign also released its annual report on deaths of transgender people in conjunction with the day.
How many transgender people have lost their lives to violence?
At least 36 transgender people have died from violence in the 12 months since the last Day of Remembrance, the Human Rights Campaign said in its annual report. Since 2013, the organization has recorded the deaths from violence of 372 victims who were transgender and gender-expansive — which refers to someone with a more flexible range of gender identity or expression than typically associated with the binary gender system.
The number of victims is likely higher because many deaths often aren’t reported or are misreported, or misgendering of the victims leads to delays in their identification.
The Human Rights Campaign said there was a slight increase from the previous year, when it identified at least 33 transgender victims of violence.
A large number of the victims tracked over the past year were young or people of color, with Black transgender women making up half of the 36 identified. The youngest victim identified was 14-year-old Pauly Likens of Pennsylvania.
Two-thirds of the fatalities involved a firearm, the organization said. Nearly a third of the victims with a known killer were killed by an intimate partner, a friend or a family member.
What is at stake politically?
This year’s remembrance follows an election where advocates say victories by President-elect Donald Trump and other Republican candidates who focused on issues like transgender athletes dealt a setback to trans people’s rights.
It also follows a wave of measures enacted in Republican states this year restricting the rights of transgender people, especially youth.
Half the states have banned gender-affirming medical care for transgender youth. The U.S. Supreme Court is set to hear arguments next month in a lawsuit challenging Tennessee’s ban.
Advocates say the legislation and rhetoric is creating fewer safe spaces for transgender people, and they worry it could spur more violence against trans people.
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Associated Press writer Jeff McMillan in northeastern Pennsylvania contributed to this report.
