Canada’s Parliament Passes Measure Limiting Women’s Right to Abortion

Parliament on Tuesday approved a law that would bar doctors from performing abortions unless a woman’s health or life is endangered. The action, on a 140 to 131 vote, upset both abortion rights advocates and opponents of abortion.

The law must be approved by the non-elected Senate before it becomes law, but that is expected to be only a formality.

Canada has been without an abortion law since January, 1988, when its Supreme Court ruled the existing law unconstitutional because it restricted women’s right to an abortion.

Under the new law, criminal sanctions, including a maximum penalty of two years in jail, would apply to any woman who induces her own abortion without the advice of a doctor. The same penalties would apply to a doctor who performs an abortion without determining the threat to a woman’s health.

The vote was a small victory for Prime Minister Brian Mulroney, whose administration is under siege with the threat that Quebec will secede from Canada.

Margaret Purcell, a spokeswoman for the Campaign Life Coalition in Toronto, said that her group had hoped the legislation would be defeated because it did not ban all abortions.

She said her organization will continue lobbying for such a law.

But Anne Burnett, a representative of the Canadian Abortion Rights Action League, said the law violates Canada’s Charter of Rights and women’s equality.

“Its chilling effect on doctors will limit access,” Burnett said. “It is going to create greater dangers for pregnant women who will have trouble finding access to abortions.”