OTTAWA (CCN)—Conservative leader Erin O’Toole and about a third of the Conservative caucus joined with the Liberals, NDP, and Bloc Quebecois to block Conservative MP Cathay Wagantall’s bill to ban sex-selective abortions in Canada.
Wagantall’s private member’s bill was defeated in the House of Commons by a 248-82 margin June 2.
Bill C-233, known as the Sex Selective Abortion Act, would have made it a crime for a “medical practitioner to perform an abortion knowing that the abortion is sought solely on the grounds of the child’s genetic sex.” These abortions disproportionately target a girl in the womb.
“MP Wagantall is to be commended for bringing the issue of sex-selective abortion into the open,” said Tabitha Ewert, legal counsel for We Need a Law, which actively supported the bill. “This is an ugly reality in Canada, where girls are aborted simply because they are girls. We need to address sex-based discrimination in every form, including at life’s earliest stages, and MPs missed an important opportunity to do that today.”
During debate, speakers from all parties said they abhor the practice but were unwilling to undo a woman’s right to abortion, arguing it was a tactic to bring in more abortion restrictions.
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau tweeted after the vote, “81 members of the Conservative Party voted in favour of anti-choice legislation today. It is completely unacceptable that they will not support, protect or defend a woman’s right to choose.”
Most Canadians support “common sense abortion restrictions, including a restriction on sex-selective abortion,” Ewart said. “Women’s rights cannot include targeting women before they are born.”
During debate it was evident that “while Canadians are having ongoing conversations about abortion, elected lawmakers seem unprepared for it,” Ewart said.
“We look forward to when Parliament catches up to where Canadians are already at and accepts a prohibition on such an overtly sexist practice,” she said.
Supporters of the bill argue that Canadians support such specific restrictions on abortion, but most MPs made it clear during that there is no path forward at this time for legal changes that would restrict access to abortion in Canada.
Despite votes against the bill by O'Toole and other high-profile Tories like Alberta MP Michelle Rempel Garner, most Conservatives supported the bill, highlighting the divide between the party's leadership and its social-conservative members.
"Despite Erin O’Toole’s emphatic pro-choice stance and commitment to vote against this bill, exactly two-thirds of his caucus voted in favour of it," said a statement from We Need A Law.
Liberal, NDP and Bloc MPs who spoke in the House on Bill C-233 dismissed Wagantall’s proposed bill as a Trojan Horse attempt to chip away at existing abortion rights in Canada.
Liberal MP Anita Vandenbeld said during debate in the Commons May 28 that while the bill “is ostensibly aimed at doctors,” it would also criminalize women as parties to the offence,” calling it “a violation of the fundamental rights of women in Canada.”
Bloc Quebecois MP Christine Normandin accused the bill’s supporters of “shamefully” using sexism as an excuse to roll back access to abortion in Canada.
“Unlike what some would have us believe, Bill C-233 does not seek to restore the balance between the situation of young girls and young boys. It is not a bill to combat sexism. It is anti-abortion legislation, period,” Normandin said.
Wagantall and pro-life organizations say those who opposed the legislation are out of touch with most Canadians. “As I have said many times during the course of this discussion, the vast majority of those who would like sex selection to be made illegal are in fact pro-choice,” Wagantall told the Commons during debate.
“They are not ‘pro-abortion for any reason,’ but pro-choice. These facts should send a strong message to everyone in this House. We have a mandate from Canadians to act,” she said.
Fellow Conservative MP Kelly Block echoed Wagantall’s argument, noting that “while a majority of Canadians support access to abortion, a majority of Canadians oppose sex-selective abortion.”
Accusations that the bill was an attempt to open the door to restricting abortion are unfounded, she said. “The purpose of the bill is very clear. It is not intended to limit access to abortion … it is being put forward to address the inequality that exists between the sexes in their earliest forms.”
In an open letter to MPs, Canadian Physicians for Life board member Dr. Kiely Williams called Bill C-233 “a unique opportunity in Canadian politics where all political parties can unite to expand women’s rights and save Canadian lives.”
Williams questioned how many female MPs were able to state they oppose sex-selection abortion while being “firmly committed to opposing any legislation” that would prohibit it.
“As a physician and a woman, I asked myself how they could adopt such an irreconcilable position.”
