Abortion Should Be Kept Out Of The Criminal Code

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1960s liberalized abortion regulations became widespread. The impetus for
the change was threefold: (1) infanticide and the high maternal death rate
associated with illegal abortions, (2) a rapidly expanding world population, (3)
the growing feminist movement. By 1980, countries where abortions were permitted
only to save a woman's life contained about 20 percent of the world's population.
Countries with moderately restrictive laws—abortions permitted to protect a
woman's health, to end pregnancies resulting from rape or incest, to avoid
genetic or congenital defects, or in response to social problems such as
unmarried status or inadequate income—contained some 40 percent of the world's
population. Abortions at the woman's request, usually with limits based on
physical conditions such as duration of pregnancy, were allowed in countries
with nearly 40 percent of the world's population.1

Under the Criminal Code. R.S.C. !970, c.C-34, abortion constitutes a
criminal offense. ...

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accredited hospital after a committee certified
that the continuation of the pregnancy would likely endanger the mother's life
or heath. In 1989, 70 779 abortions were reported in Canada, or 18.0 abortions
per 100 live births. 3

Henry Morgentaler is a major abortion supporter. Dr. Morgentaler was
one of the first Canadian doctors to perform vasectomies, insert IUDs and
provide contraceptive pills to the unmarried. As president of the Montreal
Humanist Fellowship he urged the Commons Health and Welfare Committee in 1967 to
repeal the law against abortion. To draw attention to the safety and efficacy
of clinical abortions, Morgentaler in 1973 publicized the fact that he ...

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