It’s been nearly a week since the United States Supreme Court officially struck down its landmark 1973 Roe v. Wade decision — a ruling that guaranteed a woman's right to get an abortion across the U.S. — leaving many Canadians wondering what that decision could mean north of the border.
Barrie-Springwater-Oro-Medonte MP Doug Shipley told BarrieToday he’s not concerned that what has happened in the U.S. will happen here.
“I am a parliamentarian and I know there is no law on abortion in Ontario. Our party has been clear we have no intention of bringing up abortion in the House of Commons. Justin Trudeau keeps discussing abortion and is making it an issue,” said Shipley, a Conservative MP. “He’s been in power for seven years. If he wants to bring it up in the House of Commons, he’s more than welcome to… but the Conservative Party does not want to divide our country and make it an issue.”
Shipley told BarrieToday he's pro-choice, which means the decision should be left to the individual. This is despite a list circulating online that indicates that he is not pro-choice.
“There’s a list going around right now that is allegedly listing all MPs who are one side or the other, and it’s not a correct list. I saw my own name on it and I know it’s not accurate,” he said. “When I looked into this group, they have no office, no telephone number, no email account. … We have to stop taking our information from non-factual social media sites. It’s really causing harm in our society.”
Shipley also told BarrieToday he's "disheartened" to see the topic of women’s reproductive rights becoming such an issue and dividing Canadians yet again.
“Right now, there’s nothing in parliament — there’s no bill before us, there’s no discussions on abortion — but for some reason it’s become another issue that is dividing our own country and I think that’s very unfortunate,” he said. “I think American-style politics are wrong. They’re wrong even when they’re in America, so let’s not bring them up here to Canada.”
A rally is scheduled for this evening in Barrie regarding the protection of reproductive rights in Canada. The rally will convene at 6 p.m., at Barrie City Hall and then participants will walk to Meridian Place.
After the U.S. Supreme Court draft document was leaked May 2, Shipley said he unfortunately wasn’t surprised with the news last week that the U.S. Supreme Court had, in fact, overturned the decades-old ruling from the Roe v. Wade case.
“I would say I was disappointed for American women and it’s unfortunate that some states will now be siding with that decision," Shipley said. "I am not hearing anything of that in Canada, nor do I want to hear anything of that in Canada.”
Barrie-Innisfil MP John Brassard told BarrieToday that he is also pro-choice and believes in the right of healthy, reproductive choices.
Like his local counterpart, Brassard says he's also aware of the list circulating online that indicates he is pro-life. However, he told BarrieToday he has always made his position of being pro-choice known publicly.
“What’s happening in the United States is truly an issue within the United States. I don’t think there are many people, including myself, that are interested in litigating or opening up this issue in Canada,” he said. “I know emotions run deep on this issue and it’s an issue of deep conviction for many people.
"Notwithstanding my view of not wanting to re-litigate or reopen this issue, there are people that don’t share those views and there are people right across this country," Brassard added. "We have to get back to respecting all of our views on these issues and recognizing that not everybody is going to agree with our position.”
The issue of abortion, he noted, is a very emotional one, no matter what side of the debate you are on.
“It’s a solemn decision and it’s an emotional decision for not just women but for their partners and their families as well. The politicization of this issue, and the lack of empathy and compassion, is the thing that really frustrates me,” Brassard said. “For many women, it’s a deep and emotional decision that they have to make.”
Brassard also said he resents the issue being “weaponized politically."
“In Canada, the Morgentaler decision made it very clear that there is a right (of) access to healthy reproductive choices in this country," he said. "That issue hasn’t been challenged… and no government has reopened the issue despite the fears the Harper government would. It was very clear during the Harper government’s time that they were not interested in introducing legislation or reopening the abortion debate, and neither am I.”
BarrieToday contacted several local health-care providers throughout the region, but either did not hear back or was told they could not comment on the issue.
Canadian women have no specific legal right to abortion, as there is currently no legal framework governing abortion, although abortion has been legal in Canada since 1988, when the Supreme Court decided in R. v. Morgentaler that a law criminalizing abortion was unconstitutional. Today, abortion falls under provincial health-care systems as a medical procedure, meaning access to the procedure varies considerably from place to place.
Many Tory MPs, however, oppose abortion and have brought forward different private member’s bills over the years to try to tighten access, with the most recent bill being brought forward in June 2021, when 81 out of the party’s 119 MPs voted in favour of a proposed bill from Conservative Saskatchewan MP Cathay Wagantall to ban so-called sex-selective abortions that she claimed targeted girls. That bill was defeated by the Liberals, NDP and Bloc Quebecois, but among its supporters was Bergen, who was deputy leader at the time. Brassard voted in favour of the bill, while Shipley voted against it.
Abortion also became an issue for former Conservative leader Erin O’Toole during last year’s election campaign. His platform included a pledge to protect the conscience rights of health-care workers from having to perform procedures they found objectionable.
During the 2021 federal election, the Liberals made a series of promises to improve abortion access in Canada, including regulating access under the Canada Health Act. A mandate letter for federal Health Minister Jean-Yves Duclos calls on him to reinforce compliance under the Act, develop a sexual and reproductive health rights information portal, and support youth-led grassroots organizations that respond to the sexual and reproductive health needs of young people.
Under the majority Progressive Conservative government of Brian Mulroney, the House of Commons passed a law in 1990 that would have made it a criminal offence to induce an abortion unless a physician deemed that the woman's life or health was likely to be threatened otherwise. That bill was defeated in the Senate, where the vote came to a rare tie and no government has since attempted to legislate on the issue.
In the Morgentaler decision, the Supreme Court did not explicitly state that access to abortion is a fundamental right — and no other Canadian court has said so since.
Meanwhile, when a leaked copy of the decision overturning Roe v. Wade was released in May, reporters asked Prime Minister Justin Trudeau whether he would consider putting legislation on the table to enshrine such a right. He left the possibility open, but said his government wants to prevent a situation where rights are rolled back by future governments or court decisions.
"Maybe it's legislation, maybe it's not legislation, maybe it's leaving it in the hands of the Canadian Medical Association that has ensured governance over these procedures for a long time," Trudeau said at the time.
As soon as a new law passed, court cases would be brought to test its constitutionality, said University of Ottawa law professor Daphne Gilbert — creating "legitimacy and a platform" for anti-abortion activists to bring their cases to the courtroom.
Federal legislation could also raise a division-of-powers debate and give provinces the ability to talk about regulating or restricting abortion in a bigger way, Gilbert said, which could jeopardize advocates' hard-fought gains.
"There's absolutely no upside and a whole bunch of downside."
— With files from The Canadian Press
