Canada Leaders Affirm Right To Choose After Leak Of Draft U.S. Ruling Overturning Abortion Rights

 

Canada's Prime Minister and Deputy Prime Minister affirmed on Tuesday their support of women's right to choose after a leaked draft ruling suggests the U.S. Supreme Court is prepared to strike down a landmark decision legalizing abortion.

The Bloc Quebecois, a federal political party, also moved a motion in Canada's Parliament Tuesday to recognize a woman's "free choice in the matter of abortion."

Deputy Prime Minister Chrystia Freeland said she was "both shocked and deeply troubled" by the leaked ruling and said her government has a "clear and determined commitment" to protect a woman's right to choose.

Candice Bergen, interim leader of the opposition Conservatives, who are in the process of choosing a new leader, said none of the party's members would comment on the leaked draft. But Bergen did say the Conservatives "will not introduce legislation or reopen the abortion debate."

She accused Trudeau of using abortion as a wedge and said if there were a vote, Conservatives could vote freely.

Canada's Supreme Court decriminalized abortion in a historic 1988 ruling. Ostensibly, since then, abortion has been a medical procedure like any other. But barriers to access persist, especially for people living outside urban areas.

Canada's top court is unlikely to re-criminalize abortion any time soon but if the U.S. Supreme Court overturns Roe v. Wade that could embolden anti-abortion movements and galvanize abortion activists, Canadian observers and advocates both for and against abortion told Reuters.

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