Abortion in canada

PRIVATE
Grounds on which abortion is permitted

To save the life of the woman Yes
To preserve physical health Yes
To preserve mental health Yes
Rape or incest Yes
Foetal impairment Yes
Economic or social reasons Yes
Available on request Yes

Additional requirements

Given the absence of abortion legislation, abortion is available on request with no stipulations as to whomust perform it and where.

Government view of fertility level: Satisfactory

Government intervention concerning fertility level: No intervention

Government policy on contraceptive use: Indirect support provided

Percentage of currently married women using
modern contraception (aged 15-49, 1995): 75

Total fertility rate (1995-2000): 1.6

Age-specific fertility rate (per 1,000 womenaged 15-19, 1995-2000): 23

Government has expressed particular concern about:
Morbidity and mortality resulting from induced abortion No
Complications of childbearing and childbirth No

Maternal mortality ratio (per 100,000 live births; 1990):
National 6
Northern America 11

Female life expectancy at birth (1995-2000): 82


Canadian abortion laws have undergone significantchanges in the past two decades. Prior to 1969, abortion was governed by the provisions of the Criminal Code of 1892, as amended (Sections 272-274). Under these, no exception was expressed to a general prohibition of abortion, although it was understood that one could be performed on the criminal law principle of necessity to save the life of the pregnant woman. In response to the mounting publicdebate, the Government of Canada instituted a review of its abortion law in 1967 and, in 1969, amended the Criminal Code to liberalize the law. Under the amended and recodified provisions of the Code (Section 251), abortion was permitted if the continuation of the pregnancy would or would be likely to endanger the woman's life or health. Although the new provisions broadened the grounds underwhich abortion was permitted, they also imposed some restrictions. An abortion was required to be carried out by a qualified medical practitioner in an accredited or approved hospital that had a therapeutic abortion committee comprised of no fewer than three qualified medical practitioners (not including the one performing the abortion). The Committee was responsible for determining whether aspecific abortion could be performed legally, how long into a pregnancy it could be performed, and whether a married woman had to obtain the consent of her husband, or a minor, the consent of her parents. A physician who performed an abortion in violation of the law could be sentenced to life imprisonment, and a woman who consented to an abortion to two years’ imprisonment.

One consequence of thelaw was a major disparity in the availability of legally performed abortions in the various parts of the country. By the mid-1980s, 75 per cent of all abortions were performed in 15 per cent of the hospitals, and in certain provinces such as Prince Edward Island and Newfoundland and Labrador it was almost impossible to obtain an abortion. Moreover, only 43 per cent of the hospitals in the countrywere accredited hospitals and only 52 per cent of these had decided to establish abortion committees. The law rendered generally impossible the performance of abortions in free-standing clinics, although the Government of Quebec in the early 1970s took the step of deciding not to prosecute safely performed abortions, no matter where performed.

In 1988, the Supreme Court of Canada ruled thatSection 251 was unconstitutional because it violated Section 7 of the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms, which guarantees the right to “life, liberty, and security of the person” (R. v. Morgentaler, 1988). The Court objected to the provisions of Section 251 governing the procedures of therapeutic abortion committees and the requirement that all abortions be performed in approved or accredited...