2024 - Here are your MPs in Ottawa who are against abortion

OTTAWA | The right to abortion is far from unanimous in Ottawa since many elected officials, all from the Conservative Party, continue to oppose it.

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No less than a third of the Conservative deputies still say they are “pro-life” today, according to data compiled by the Campaign Life Coalition, an anti-abortion lobby.

It is therefore 39 deputies out of the 338 federal elected officials, all conservatives, who are against the concept of termination of pregnancy.

Abortion has made a comeback in federal news as the US Supreme Court is set to overturn a landmark 1973 decision that led to its legalization in the United States, according to Politico.

tactical issue

Most of the anti-abortion Conservatives come from the West and the Prairies, but some are from the Maritimes and several from southern Ontario, including Leslyn Lewis, the only one of the anti-abortion clan still in the leadership race.

None come from Quebec. But the deputy Alain Rayes, of Victoriaville, affirms to respect the opinion of his colleagues.

At the end of a heated debate on this subject in the House, he indicated yesterday that the question remains “extremely sensitive, tactical, even” within the party.

Leslyn Lewis, for example, managed to rank third in the previous leadership race, thanks to the support of the anti-abortion lobby.

That was August 2020, six months after a Conservative MP from Saskatchewan introduced a bill denounced by other parties as an attempt to criminalize abortion “through the back door.”

The bill sought to amend the Criminal Code to ban abortions based on gender. Eighty-two elected officials voted for, 248 against.

Not regulated by law

Although the procedure has been decriminalized since 1989 in Canada, there is no federal law on voluntary termination of pregnancy (abortion). It is therefore a right protected by the Charter, but without clear regulation.

As promised in the campaign, the Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said yesterday that his government would study the legal framework surrounding abortionto eventually “ensure” and even “enhance” access, “not just now, but under any other government in the future”.

According to the Canada Health Act, abortion is a “medically necessary service”. However, only one in six hospitals on average practice it in the country.