Judicial Reasoning About Pregnancy and Choice. (Canada‪)‬

Concern--The Threat of New Restrictive Abortion Legislation Women in Canada are at risk of abortion becoming increasingly difficult to access. In its landmark 1988 ruling, R. v. Morgentaler, (1) the Supreme Court of Canada struck down the prohibition of abortion in section 251 of the Criminal Code on the grounds that it violated a section of the Charter of Rights and Freedoms which guarantees, among other things, "security of the person". (2) However, all of the justices who ruled that section 251 was unconstitutional nonetheless claimed that protecting the fetus is a valid objective of federal legislation, leaving open the possibility that a different and carefully crafted law against abortion might be constitutional. (3) Abortion opponents organized in response to the decision, and in 1990, an attempt was made to re-criminalize abortion. This attempt, Bill C-43, came very close to succeeding. (4) However, it did fail and no new Criminal Code provisions on abortion have been introduced since.