2 in 3 Quebecers want Canada to introduce a law to guarantee access to abortion

According to a new study by the Angus Reid Institute, 66% of people in Quebec say they want the justice minister to pass a law to guarantee access to abortion in Canada.

Alberta (47%) and Saskatchewan & Manitoba (42%) are the only provinces where only a minority would support legislation to guarantee abortion rights.

Overall, 57% of Canadians want the justice minister to introduce legislation to guarantee access to abortion.

“Abortion in Canada has a lengthy legal history. The procedure was banned from 1869 until 1969, when the Liberal government of Pierre Trudeau introduced a law to allow it in a limited fashion. At the time, a committee of doctors would need to decide that the mother’s health was in danger in order to sign off on an abortion. A 1988 Supreme Court Decision in the case of R. v. Morgentaler found that limiting access was unconstitutional and the procedure was decriminalized.

“A Conservative government under then-Prime Minister Brian Mulroney attempted to pass a law in the early 1990s which would have restricted access, but this law died in the senate. Canada remains one of the few nations in the world without a law either guaranteeing or restricting access to abortion.”

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