It is ridiculous that Justin Trudeau continues to pontificate on abortion without having to justify his oft-repeated claim that any limitation on a woman’s right to choose to abort her child is inconsistent with the Charter. Mr. Trudeau is either completely ignorant of the law or acting in contempt of it.
The Supreme Court’s 1988 Morgentaler decision, referred to ad nauseam by Trudeau, clearly states that it is Parliament’s responsibility to enact constitutionally sound laws protecting the rights of the fetus at some point during the pregnancy. Even Justice Bertha Wilson postulates that legal protection ought to begin somewhere in the second trimester.
In the Morgentaler decision, the court struck down the existing abortion legislation on a more technical constitutional ground, finding that it did not provide equal access to a defence in criminal law. The court fully understood that fetal rights needed to be protected, and they certainly did not anticipate the legal vacuum we have seen for the past twenty-five years. In no way did the Supreme Court justices ever establish a right for Canadian women to have unfettered access to abortion through all nine months of pregnancy.
It is preposterous that an elected representative who desires to become Prime Minister consistently distorts historical and legal facts. It is time for Canadians and the media to challenge Trudeau, not only on his dictatorial approach to this issue, but also on his factual claims and his interpretation of the law.