Abortion Law Around the World

quote:

---

G: From this sheet, it indicates that Canada has the most liberal abortion law on Earth, and is one of the few places abortion is legal anytime during pregnancy. What do babblers think?

---

I think there is no abortion law in Canada, which is a good thing, but you seem to have managed to miss that small point. In fact, writing about a "liberal" abortion law is sort of misleading, isn't it, Ghislaine?

Too bad many countries around the world do not understand human equality rights, though admittedly the EU is trying, with their recent inclusion of women into the human species category.

A less rosy view of ourselves and of the future - C-484's little brother.

Conservative Party members of Parliament must have been the first surprised to see the Liberals help their fellow Ken Epp's C-484 private bill comfortably pass 2nd reading in Parliament six weeks ago. Now, other opponents of choice are happily crawling out of the woodwork.
Another good reason to vote the Conservatives out of office if the Opposition can ever get its act together...

quote:

---

(OTTAWA, April 16, 2008) - Conservative MP Maurice Vellacott (Saskatoon-Wanuskewin) today re-introduced a Private Member's Bill that would "prohibit coercion in medical procedures that offend a person's religion or belief that human life is inviolable. The bill seeks to ensure that health care providers will never be forced to participate against their will in procedures such as abortions or acts of euthanasia".

---

Mr. Vellacott's proposal - he chairs the official multi-party Pro-Life Parliamentary Committee - would enter into law the so-called "clause of conscience" that allows PEI women, for instance, and those of most of rural Canada to be denied access to abortion simply because no pro-choice doctor has been hired in their area of the country. Exit universality as a foundation of the Canada Health Act.

A former pastor, MP Vellacott is a long-time foe of women's reproductive rights, GLBT rights, the Court Challenges program and other irritants to
arch-Conservatives, such as the "God-like powers" of Canadian judges (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Maurice_Vellacott)

[ 25 April 2008: Message edited by: martin dufresne ]

A fetus never is a person.

In Canada, we are supposed to gain legal protections as people with the drawing of our first breath.

Wow, women sure are passive in your world. In mine, things have been changing. In some ways, significantly. And there is much hope for greater change.

Anyway, I believe in Canada it's with the first breath, not emergence. Trying to track down the exact reference. Might take me a couple of days.

Criminal Code:

223. (1) A child becomes a human being within the meaning of this Act when it has completely proceeded, in a living state, from the body of its mother, whether or not

(a) it has breathed;

(b) it has an independent circulation; or

(c) the navel string is severed.

quote:

---

Originally posted by M. Spector:
[b]Criminal Code:

223. (1) A child becomes a human being within the meaning of this Act when it has completely proceeded, in a living state, from the body of its mother, whether or not

(a) it has breathed;

(b) it has an independent circulation; or

(c) the navel string is severed.[/b]

---

Well that's interesting - so according to this, a "child" is NOT a "human being" before it is born.

I guess that explains this part of Bill C-484:

quote:

---

(5) It is not a defence to a charge under this section that the child is not a human being.

---

[ 25 April 2008: Message edited by: Michelle ]

yes, it is that section of C484 which signified this was an attempt to grant personhood upon a fetus.

Thanks for that CC section 223 mspector, so then what the living state means is that there is a heart beat present after it has proceeded completely out of the canal and not at first breath

Hello! I would just like to comment on the post made by Ghislaine that points out that when it comes to Canada and abortions we have,"the most liberal abortion law on Earth, and is one of the few places abortion is legal anytime during pregnancy."
While it is true that abortion is legal in Canada, in lieu of the recent anniversary of the momentous Morgentaler decision that gave Canadian women the right to an abortion, I would strongly question the above statement. While the media recently reflected back on the 1988 Supreme Court decision, it was brought to light that abortion is in fact becoming increasingly restricted accross the country. Consider that in PEI woman have nowhere to terminate an unwanted pregnancy at all. Fewer than 1 in 5 hospitals perform the service and in Ottawa the wait time for one can extend to six weeks, a danger for such a time-sensitive procedure. The arbitrary rules that have crept into the system have made a complete mockery of the Supreme Court ruling. Ghislaine's above statment just seems to reaffirm how many Canadians are under the illusion that Canada has strong abortion laws, when in fact they are only weakening. thoughts?

writer, what do you mean when you say we have no abortion laws?
yes that's a very interesting article. It's interesting how she talks about abortions being dependent on the size of your pocketbook.

Gab, she also explains why there are no laws regarding abortion in Canada. There's lots on the net about this.

Here's one:

quote:

---

Canada is one of the very few countries in the world that has NO criminal law restricting abortion at all. We first liberalized our law against abortion in 1969; then our Supreme Court threw it out completely in 1988. And we've been doing just fine without it. In the 11 years since we began our great experiment, we've found that doctors and women exercise the right to abortion responsibly, without the need for any legal restrictions.

[url=http://www.hackcanada.com/canadian/freedom/canadabort.html]Abortion in Canada: History, Law, and Access[/url]

---

Women to go on strike in Poland in protest at planned abortion law

Thousands of women are expected to go on strike across Poland in protest against a new law that would effectively ban abortion.

Poland already has some of the most restrictive abortion laws in Europe, with terminations legally permitted only when the life of the foetus is under threat, when there is a grave threat to the health of the mother, and in the instance that the pregnancy resulted from rape or incest.

Were the proposed ban to be enacted, all terminations would be criminalised, with women punishable with up to five years in prison. Doctors found to have assisted with a termination would also be liable for prosecution and a prison term.

Critics say that would mean that even a woman who suffers a miscarriage could be under criminal suspicion, and that doctors might be put off conducting even routine procedures on pregnant women for fear of being accused of facilitating a termination.

Although a ban has received public support from elements of the Catholic church and Poland’s ruling rightwing Law and Justice party (PiS), neither initiated the proposals. They were drafted by hardline conservative advocacy group Ordo Iuris and submitted by the Stop Abortion coalition as a “citizens’ initiative” – a petition considered by parliament once it has received more than 100,000 signatures.

quote:

Many Polish women say they are sick of deals being cut over their fundamental reproductive and human rights, which they argue threaten both their safety and their dignity.

“A lot of women and girls in this country have felt that they don’t have any power, that they are not equal, that they don’t have the right to an opinion,” said Magda Staroszczyk, a strike co-ordinator. “This is a chance for us to be seen, and to be heard.”

Monday’s protest was inspired by an all-out strike more than 40 years ago by the women of Iceland, when 90% of women refused to work, cook, or look after their children for a day in October 1975....

Polish women flood streets in nationwide strike to protest proposed abortion ban

The new legislation would ban all abortions, including pregnancies from rape or incest, or that endangered the mother’s life.

Polish women donned black, waved black flags and took to Poland’s streets in large numbers on Monday, boycotting jobs and classes as part of a nationwide strike to protest a legislative proposal for a total ban on abortion.

Many men — including public figures — joined the thousands of women on the streets of Warsaw, Gdansk, Wroclaw and elsewhere across the largely Catholic nation on what was dubbed “Black Monday.” The country already has one of Europe’s most restrictive abortion laws and opinion surveys show very little support for an even stricter law, despite the nation’s deep Catholicism and conservative political direction.

Those who support abortion rights hailed the huge show of anger as a big success. Some voiced hope that it could weaken the hold of Poland’s right-wing ruling party, Law and Justice, which has courted controversy during its nearly one year in power by weakening the judiciary and pushing a Catholic world view that has alienated secular Poles and liberals.

“I am very happy. This is the beginning of something,” said one of the protesters in Warsaw, Elzbieta Turczynska. “I treat it as the end of some era, hopefully a very short one, but a really dangerous one for us.”