The very real threat in the United States to the right of women to terminate a pregnancy if they so choose provides the Liberal government of Justin Trudeau with the perfect opportunity to hone its weapons against the Conservative Party of Canada. No one is fooled by this political game, but beware of excesses: by embarking on the path of legislation on access to abortion, as the Prime Minister said he was thinking about it, we could weaken the gains rather than to protect them.
The leak broadcast by the American media Politico on the possible reversal by the Supreme Court of the United States of the judgment Roe v. wade, which guarantees the right to abortion, sent shockwaves around the world. It forces Canada to check, once again, if its back is solid. It must be said that, since the Morgentaler judgment pronounced in 1988 by our Supreme Court on the decriminalization of abortion, conservative anti-abortion MPs have never ceased to want to curtail women’s rights in matters of sexual and reproductive health. We can never be too careful.
Brian Mulroney’s Conservative government tried in 1991 to limit access to abortion to women whose state of health did not allow them to carry a pregnancy, but this attempt was rejected at the doors of the Senate. Since then, several private members’ bills led by Conservative MPs have been introduced without achieving any viable milestones. Each of these upheavals provides a valuable lesson: yes, critics of women’s free choice are indeed watching behind the scenes. A final count made by our parliamentary correspondent Marie Vastel leads to the conclusion that 48 of the 119 Conservative MPs are anti-abortion. One of the Conservative leadership candidates, Leslyn Lewis, is herself opposed to voluntary termination of pregnancy, but her chances of winning are virtually nil. The Coalition for Abortion Rights in Canada calculates for its part that 74% of the Conservative deputies are opposed to abortion, and that of the 159 deputies of the PLC, 5 would possibly be in the anti-choice camp.
In short, we are not wrong to imagine that there are indeed aspiring governments in Canada who would make short work of free choice if they were in charge. Quebec is not left out, as shown by the arrival in the debate of one of the health candidates of the Conservative Party of Quebec, the Dr Roy Eappen, openly anti-choice. However, the presence of these disruptive agents does not necessarily mean that 30 years of experience can be shattered. They call for vigilance, of course, but the indication that Justin Trudeau gives of his penchant for legislation regulating abortion does not bode much better, for three main reasons: first, because the health is a provincial responsibility and that we must be wary of the many recent attempts by the Trudeau government to invade this sacred field; second, because the existence of a law would pave the way for future restrictions under a government that is not pro-choice, as we have seen in a wave of American states; finally, because the Morgentaler decision is solid and Canadian case law does not send any signal that women’s free choice is weakening.
That Justin Trudeau wishes to examine ways to strengthen access to abortion, which is still unequal across Canada, so be it. His party had moreover, during the last election campaign, made four promises supporting this intention, and nothing prevents him, for example, from ensuring that no “fake” family planning clinic is financially supported by public funds, and that they do not extend their operations of stigmatization and misinformation around the voluntary termination of pregnancy.
He entrusted two of his key ministers with looking “quickly” at ways to protect the right to abortion in the provinces, in particular through the Canada Health Act. This law already imposes penalties on the provinces, such as New Brunswick, which, because it refuses to fund voluntary terminations of pregnancy in private clinics, has had to withhold a portion of its health transfers in 2021. The penalty was $140,000 on a budget of… $10.2 billion. A flick.
Is it also useful to remember that a very large majority of Canadians (three quarters at least, according to the polls) say they are pro-choice? Citizens do not want to reopen this debate. Although it is essential to watch out for grain and to protect access to abortion, the path of legislation is a false good idea that carries a nauseating odor of political appropriation.