In April 2005, LifeCanada contacted all Members of Parliament to share information about Britain’s on-going debate to limit the practice of abortion and to ask them to consider revisiting the issue of abortion. Canada is the only country in the Western world to offer tax funded abortion on demand with no gestational age limit. Most European countries limit abortions beyond 12 weeks. Sweden is the exception where abortion is provided free of charge and on demand until the 18th week of gestation. A woman must obtain special permission from a medical board beyond that point. Canada has been without a law on abortion since January 1988 when the Supreme Court of Canada struck down the law in the Morgentaler case. At that time, the Court said it was up to Parliament to enact a new law to replace the old one. We are still waiting.

One of Britain's leading providers of abortions, Marie Stopes International, announced in April that it wants to lower the 24-week gestational limit for abortion on demand to 20 weeks because of the potential viability of the fetus. At the current 24-week limit, Britain has one of the highest gestational limits in Europe. It used to be 28 weeks, but in the early '90s it was dropped to 24 weeks to reflect medical advances and the increasing ability of premature babies to survive. Tim Black, chief executive of Marie Stopes International said, "We do feel that in light of medical developments the upper limit should come down."

Canada, with no gestational age limits on abortion, is out of step with virtually every other industrialized nation. As other liberal democracies continue to progress in light of the advances in medical technology, Canada lags further and further behind. The fact that an internationally recognized abortion provider is calling for the current 24-week limit to be reduced to 20 weeks is a clear indication that Canada's abortion situation is an anachronism in the 21st century.

In Canada, even well-known abortionist Henry Morgentaler believes that late-term abortions are unethical. "Around 24 weeks I have ethical problems doing that" says Henry Morgentaler. "What we do at our clinics is if we have a problem like that we usually counsel the woman to continue the pregnancy and put it up for adoption if she is unable to care for it," said Morgentaler. Furthermore, an October 2004 Environics poll reported that a majority of Canadians (68%) favor some legal protection of the unborn. Only 28% of those polled agreed that legal protection should begin at birth, the current situation in Canadian law.

In light of scientific, technological and medical advances around the world, and in accord with the principles of democracy, it has never been more clear that Canada needs to address the problem of unrestricted abortions. LifeCanada is asking Canadians to follow-up with their Member of Parliament to ask if they would be in favour of revisiting the issue of abortion.

~ LifeCanada