PFP 101: Examination of Abortion Laws and Women's Rights in Canada

This essay provides a comprehensive analysis of abortion laws in Canada, tracing their historical development and current legal status. It examines the legality of abortion at all stages of pregnancy and the absence of specific restrictions, contrasting this with the pre-1969 illegality. The essay delves into key legal precedents, such as the R v Morgentaler case, and the impact of the Criminal Law Amendment Act. It explores the financing of abortion services under the Canada Health Act, and the challenges in accessing these services. The essay highlights the ongoing struggle for women's reproductive rights in Canada, emphasizing the need for the issue to be treated as a public agenda and included in the election process. It concludes by underscoring the importance of protecting and promoting women's rights within the context of abortion law. The essay is supported by various journal articles, books, and reports.

Running head: PFP 101
PFP 101
Name of the Student
Name of the University
Author Note

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A woman cannot call herself free if she does not have any authority over her body.
Abortion is legal parlance is described as such right to show control over her body. It is a
process through which a woman can terminate the pregnancy either by the confiscation or
expulsion of the fetus or embryo before the period when it can stay alive outer the uterus. An
abortion that happens without intercession, is referred to as a miscarriage or unprompted
abortion. However, when purposeful steps are taken to terminate a pregnancy, it is known as
induced abortion, or induced miscarriage. The original term abortion generally means an
induced abortion. It is an identical process that takes place subsequently when the fetus
becomes capable enough to sustain outside the womb, then it is known as the late extinction
of pregnancy or late-term abortion. Abortion in Canada is legal in all stages of pregnancy
(Devane et al, 2019). The aim of this study is to promote the perks of having a strong
abortion law to promote the right of women as well as to ensure their health safety. The study
will be based on the various journal, articles, and books regarding the abortion law in Canada,
analysis of which is referred below.
Abortion in Canada is partly financed by the Canada Health Act. A woman with a
having a valid Ontario health card can generally avail of the procedure of abortion at either a
hospital or in a clinic. In general, the whole process is not cost consuming, although in some
exceptional scenario a small organizational fee might be payable. However, admittance to
abortion does not only govern by the legal rule but various hospitals and clinics have their
discretion to set out their policies and rule of observance while carrying out abortion services
in their premises (Gordon, 2019). The general rule is that most abortions are executed within
the earliest 12 weeks of pregnancy. However, in some of the exceptional cases, a physician
may perform abortions up to the 20th week, but not after 20 weeks of pregnancy unless the
health of the women, unless such surgery is necessary to avoid the danger to the life of such

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woman. Canada is said to be the only country where there exist no particular restrictions on
abortion (Shaw & Norman, 2019).
Before the year 1969, abortion was illegal in Canada. Through the enforcement of
the Criminal Law Amendment Act, 1968–69 abortion became legal in Canada (Myran &
Bardsley, 2018). However, a condition needs to be fulfilled before adoption that is, a
committee of doctors has to certify the fact that continuing with the pregnancy might have
cause danger to the health as well as the life of the women (Burnett, Winchar, & Yu, 2019).
In the case of R v Morgentaler, the Supreme Court of Canada held that abortion rule
envisaged under the Criminal Law Amendment Act, 1968–69, is illegal as it violates the
provision of women's rights guaranteed under section 7 of the Canadian Charter of Rights
and Freedoms which talks about the right to security of a person (Bowles, 2019).
However, most of the abortion happened in Canada in the first trimester. According to
a report published in 2017, 94,030 abortion took place in Canada which is reflecting the data
of approximately 90% of all abortions carried out in Canada including Canadian residents.
(Arcc-cdac.ca, 2020)

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It has been seen that Abortion centers that are not affiliated with a hospital do not carry out
abortions after 21 weeks or 23 weeks from the LMP. About one-third of coverage hospitals
do not inform about the details on gestational ages, most likely all in Quebec, but it can
presume that the amount of 21+ week abortion rates are identical with that of one-third.
Therefore, considering the estimated numbers of abortions in 2018: 85,795*– the
approximate abortion percentage at 21+ weeks counting in Quebec is 1% (Arcc-cdac.ca,
2020). However, if we consider an estimate of approximately 150 women in a year traveling
to the U.S. for an abortion at 21+ weeks, the percentage changes to 1.16%. However, only
hospitals testify about gestational limits abortion. A report published in the year 2018 by the
Canadian Institute for Health Information, showed that 15.4% of abortions in hospitals are
done subsequent to 12 weeks. Nonetheless, some of the clinics go after 16 weeks, though
some of them go beyond 20 to 22 weeks (Arcc-cdac.ca, 2020).
In 2010, the total number of 18,402 2014, and in 2015 total of 21,725 unreported
abortions has been reported in Ontario. However, since 2015, the Canadian Institute for
Health Information started recording about the unreported abortions from Ontario. The reason
behind this high rate of unreported abortion is the then Government only provides finance to
the five Toronto clinics subsisted during 1990 under the Independent Health Facilities
program. After that, several other abortion clinics have come into existence but do not
comply with the IHF program. However, until now patients only pay the costs which are
separate from the doctor’s fee, and such is paid by OHIP.
But as per the rule, the Ontario clinics must have been financed fully by the Ontario
Ministry of Health. In the year 1995, Health Canada gave instructions to all the provincial
and territorial Health Ministers for the full finance of each private clinic which is performing
any medical procedures and further clarified that if a user fee has been obtained directly from
the patient, it is considered to be illegal. However, the Progressive Conservative government

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did not comply with these requirements, and since then Ontario is violating the Canada
Health Act (Schipper, 2017). Since then Canadian women are fighting an invisible legal
battle to navigate their future regarding reproduction.
Therefore, it can be concluded from the above-mentioned discussion that, even though
Canada is one of the countries that has the simplest abortion law, still it faces some
hindrances in executing those laws and promoting the right of the women of the country. It
has been seen that women in Canada and America were given related hopes by the Supreme
Courts regarding rights over abortion law, but in one hand, American women are still fighting
for the same and on the other hand, Canadian women were never awarded this reproductive
rights at the first instance. Therefore, it is a fight for fundamental rights by the women in
Canada to ensure that the abortion issue must be treated as a public agenda. Therefore, this
issue should have been included as a part of the election process in Canada and every
candidate must ensure their view regarding this reproductive right before the citizen.

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Reference:
Arcc-cdac.ca. (2020). Retrieved 27 March 2020, from https://www.arcc-cdac.ca/list-abortion-
clinics-canada.pdf
Arcc-cdac.ca. (2020). Retrieved 27 March 2020, from
https://www.arcc-cdac.ca/backrounders/statistics-abortion-in-canada.pdf
Bowles, M. E. (2019). A Historical Analysis of the Substantive Principles of Fundamental
Justice under Section 7 of the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms (Doctoral
dissertation).
Burnett, M., Winchar, K., & Yu, A. (2019). A HISTORY OF WOMEN'S REPRODUCTIVE
RIGHTS IN CANADA. Journal of Obstetrics and Gynaecology Canada, 41(5), 713.
Devane, C., Renner, R. M., Munro, S., Guilbert, É., Dunn, S., Wagner, M. S., & Norman, W.
V. (2019). Implementation of mifepristone medical abortion in Canada: pilot and
feasibility testing of a survey to assess facilitators and barriers. Pilot and feasibility
studies, 5(1), 126.
Gordon, K. (2019). After Morgentaler: The Politics of Abortion in Canada Rachael
Johnstone, Vancouver: UBC Press, 2017, pp. 240. Canadian Journal of Political
Science/Revue canadienne de science politique, 52(4), 952-953.
Myran, D., & Bardsley, J. (2018). Abortion remains absent from family medicine training in
Canada. Canadian Family Physician, 64(8), 618.
R v Morgentaler, [1988] 1 SCR 30
Schipper, H. (2017). Canada Health Act 2.0: Are the Fundamental Principles Still Current, or
Do They Need to be Revisited?. Health law in Canada, 37(2-3), 3-9.

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Shaw, D., & Norman, W. V. (2019). When there are no abortion laws: A case study of
Canada. Best Practice & Research Clinical Obstetrics & Gynaecology.