Canadian Conservatives reluctant to comment on report that U.S. Supreme Court will overturn abortion law
CBC
Conservative MPs and candidates for the party's leadership were reluctant to talk Tuesday about a leaked report that suggests the U.S. Supreme Court is poised to overturn decades-old case law on abortion.
A decision by the U.S. top court to upend abortion services would have little practical effect on Canadians; some women pursuing late-term abortions go south of the border for care because of limited access here at home. But the political ramifications could be enormous.
Late Monday, Politico published a copy of an initial draft opinion written by Justice Samuel Alito, a Republican appointee, that suggests a majority of justices are prepared to overrule Roe v. Wade — the landmark decision that allowed legal abortions in the U.S. — and return the issue to state legislatures.
The opinion claims the 1973 Roe decision was constitutionally dubious and "egregiously wrong from the start" because its reasoning was "exceptionally weak."
Alito said that decades-old decision, which essentially found that the right to privacy extended to reproductive choices like an abortion, has had "damaging consequences" by dividing a nation into anti-abortion and pro-choice factions and robbing state officials of the power to regulate the practice.
As in the U.S., the issue of abortion has been the subject of much political debate in Canada — perhaps nowhere more so than within the Conservative Party.
Former Progressive Conservative prime minister Brian Mulroney failed to pass legislation on abortion after the Supreme Court's 1988 R. v. Morgentaler decision invalidated past Canadian law on the practice. As it stands, there is no federal law governing abortion.
In this context, the Conservative Party's previous leaders, including former prime minister Stephen Harper and MPs Andrew Scheer and Erin O'Toole, have been dogged by questions from the press and the public about their position on legislating abortion access — and successive Liberal and NDP leaders have made Conservative ambiguity on the topic an election issue.
In an email sent to caucus members Tuesday, interim Conservative leader Candice Bergen told MPs and senators that "Conservatives will not be commenting on draft rulings leaked from the Supreme Court of the United States."
In a subsequent statement to CBC News, Bergen said the party's position on abortion "remains what it has been since the Harper government."
"Access to abortion was not restricted under Prime Minister Stephen Harper and the Conservative Party will not introduce legislation or reopen the abortion debate," she said.
Bergen is an anti-abortion MP and social conservative groups have said she has "a perfect voting record in the House of Commons on life and family issues."
Ontario Conservative MP Marilyn Gladu, a parliamentarian who voted in favour of a recent private member's bill that would have banned "sex-selective" abortions, said she'll wait to comment until the U.S. Supreme Court actually renders a decision.
"I think what happens in the U.S. doesn't always filter across into Canada. We'll wait to see what the judge's decision is," she said.