Trudeau calls U.S. court decision overturning Roe v. Wade 'horrific'
CBC
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau weighed in Friday on the U.S. Supreme Court's decision to overturn decades-old jurisprudence on abortion, calling what's unfolding south of the border a "horrific" development that threatens the right of women to choose what to do with their own bodies.
"My heart goes out to the millions of American women who are now set to lose their legal right to an abortion. I can't imagine the fear and anger you are feeling right now," Trudeau said in a social media post.
Trudeau said "no government, politician, or man" should force a woman to carry out a pregnancy, reiterating that, under his Liberal government, "women in Canada know that we will always stand up for your right to choose."
Watch: 'Today is a difficult day,' Trudeau says after U.S. court decision overturning Roe v. Wade:
Deputy Prime Minister Chrystia Freeland also condemned the ruling, saying Friday she had a "visceral reaction" when she first heard of the court's decision.
"I was just shocked and horrified and so worried, actually," Freeland said in an interview with CBC's Rosemary Barton Live airing Sunday.
Freeland said generations of feminists fought for abortion access in Canada, and she'll do what she can to help preserve that right.
Watch: 'Right to choice, right to an abortion is a fundamental right,' Freeland says
"I want all Canadian women and girls to hear from me that the right to choice, their right to an abortion is a fundamental right. We will not let that right be undermined in any way here in our country," she said.
The U.S. top court today overruled Roe v. Wade and Planned Parenthood of Southeastern Pa. v. Casey — two landmark decisions that allowed for legal abortions in the U.S. — ending the constitutional right to terminate a pregnancy and returning the issue to state legislatures for further action.
The majority opinion, written by Samuel Alito, a Republican nominee, claims the 1973 Roe decision was constitutionally dubious and "egregiously wrong from the start" because its reasoning was "exceptionally weak."
Alito said that 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 of Canada.
One of the party's leadership contenders, MP Leslyn Lewis, has released a policy platform promising what she calls "pro-life" policies if elected, including a ban on "sex-selective" abortions, criminal penalties for "coerced" abortions, increased funding for pregnancy centres (organizations that persuade pregnant women against having abortions) and an end to federal funding for abortion services overseas.
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This First Person column is the experience of Mehdi M. Kashani, who lives in Toronto. For more information about CBC's First Person stories, please see the FAQ.
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