January 27th, 2012

Categories: abortion restrictions, Funds, unfair laws, TakeAction

On January 28, 1988, the Supreme Court of Canada decriminalized abortion in the case of R. v. Morgentaler.

The Court found the country’s restrictive abortion law unconstitutional because it infringed on a woman’s right to “life, liberty, and security of the person” under Canada’s Charter of Rights and Freedoms, which was adopted in 1982.

Unlike the United States and most countries, Canada has no operative legislation on abortion.

How did Canada get here?

Direct action played an important role in paving the way for abortion access.

Parliament first liberalized Canada’s restrictive abortion law in 1969. Although taken at the national level, this step was similar to that taken by several states in the United States between 1967 and 1973, which passed laws to “liberalize” abortion by providing access in some circumstances, such as when a woman could secure approval from a three-person hospital committee.

In 1970, a group of independent feminists organized a caravan that traveled across Canada to demand the full legalization of abortion. By the time the group reached Ottawa for a two-day demonstration over Mother’s Day weekend, more than 500 women had joined the Abortion Caravan. Thirty-five women chained themselves to the parliamentary gallery in the House of Commons, closing Parliament for the first time in Canadian history.

Historians give much of the credit to a physician who devoted himself to the cause of legal abortion. In 1973, Dr. Henry Morgentaler made a public announcement that he had been defying the law in order to provide women with abortion care. Over the next 15 years, Dr. Morgentaler opened private clinics across the country, faced repeated prosecutions, and served time in prison before he succeeded in persuading the Canadian Supreme Court to strike down the country’s restrictive abortion law.

One of the organizations that worked with Dr. Morgentaler was CARAL, the Canadian Alliance for the Repeal of the Abortion Laws, later renamed the Canadian Abortion Rights Action League. Norma Scarborough, a founder and president during the time of the Morgentaler case that went to the Supreme Court, had a very personal motivation for abortion rights activism: During her service in the Canadian Women’s Army Corps in the 1940s, one of her colleagues in the Corps bled to death after an illegal abortion.

Abortion access in Canada today

Twenty-four years after the Supreme Court decision, women still have difficulty obtaining abortion care. Women typically need to travel to a major city to find an abortion provider, and in a country as big and sparsely populated as Canada, the geography of abortion services presents a major challenge.

(See the population distribution map, right; image source: Statistics Canada.)

Moreover, although abortion should be covered under Canada’s health system, some provincial governments refuse to comply. Hospitals are bigger providers of abortion care than free-standing clinics (the opposite of the United States), but hospitals require a referral from a physician before providing abortions, and getting a referral can be a challenge for women who live in conservative communities.

The Norma Scarborough Emergency Fund of Canadians for Choice assists women with travel and lodging so that they can make the long trip to an abortion provider and access the care they need.

Learn More

Check out these sources for more about history, access, and how to find services:

Canadians for Choice

Pro-Choice Action Network