Why abortion still politicized
American Supreme Court nominations always bring the issue of abortion to the forefront of political debate, highlighting the complicated, thorny and muddled landscape of abortion rights worldwide.
In the U.S., while the fury of sexual assault allegations surrounding Brett Kavanaugh remain at the centre of the controversy over his confirmation, the vacant seat on the Supreme Court represents the fifth and potentially decisive vote over the future of Roe v. Wade. If Kavanaugh himself has stated that Roe is an “important precedent,” many believe he poses a threat to the future of abortion rights.
In Canada, by contrast, 2018 marks the 30th anniversary of the Morgentaler decision — the Supreme Court decision that struck down existing abortion laws as unconstitutional. Since then, there has been no fundamental challenge to the tenets of the Morgentaler decision: that access to abortion is a matter of life, liberty and security of the person.
Not only have legal decisions further affirmed legal abortion access, but conservative parties in Canada — as opposed to their American Republican counterparts — have also been reluctant to touch the controversial issue.
How are we to make sense of these two contrasting stories of abortion politics? Has the pro-choice movement’s vision of universal access to abortion care been realized? Or should we be preparing for an onslaught against the legal status of abortion rights?
The answers to these questions are more complicated than you might think. In Canada, the barriers to abortion are much lower today than prior to1988 and there has been no significant legal backtracking of abortion access. In just the past five years, activists have successfully established abortion care on PEI, extended medical coverage for in-hospital abortion care in New Brunswick, and guided the “abortion pill” (Mifepristone) through its approval by Health Canada. This forward moving trend has also been reflected at the global level. In Ireland, years of activism coalesced around the memory of Savita Halappa- navar, a woman who died from complications following denial of abortion care in 2012. Thousands of Irish abroad travelled #hometovote in the 2018 referendum; as a result, Ireland has gone from almost completely banning abortion to planning to make abortion accessible and free in the span of a few months.
However, these victories are far from telling the complete story. As many keen political bystanders might observe, the debate over abortion — as well as women’s larger reproductive lives and choices — remains alive and well.
In Canada, barriers to accessing abortion care persist and funding remains unequally available to all Canadian women. Women and trans men in New Brunswick, Nova Scotia and PEI, as well as rural and Indigenous communities, still face increased barriers in accessing abortion care. And Canadian medical schools offer no formalized training around abortion care, raising concerns over the future of abortion provision in Canada.
As well, over the past 10 years, Canada has witnessed a resurgence of the antiabortion movement in tandem with a mounting crackdown on abortion rights worldwide. American states, for example, have managed to limit abortion ac- cess through the implementation of informed consent laws and forced wait times. As a result of these crackdowns on clinics, seven states now only have one remaining abortion clinic.
Access to abortion also remains difficult at the global level. As of 2017, 42 per cent of women of reproductive age live in countries where abortion is either highly restricted or completely prohibited.
Reflecting on 30 years of Morgentaler in a global context, the legal and moral acceptability of abortion remains as contested as ever.
Despite the changing terrain of the debate, abortion politics remain complicated and ever changing, meaning that the politicization of abortion and reproductive rights shows no signs of letting up even in a post-Morgentaler landscape.