Abortion and Saskatchewan's Conservative Influencers

They may not be the problem right now, but they're still a problem that needs to be solved.

As the overturning of Roe vs Wade rocked women across the United States, I can’t say I was particularly worried about it getting all Handmaid’s Tale up in Saskatchewan anytime soon.

After having a closer look at conservative influencers in Saskatchewan, however, I’m not nearly as confident.

The 1988 Morgentaler case and subsequent case law by the Supreme Court have been clear that under Section 7 of the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms, abortion is not criminal. In fact, abortion case law was used more recently by the Canadian Supreme Court to strike down laws against assisted suicide. It seems unlikely the same Supreme Court would go backwards on reproductive rights.

Roe vs Wade protected the American woman’s right to have an abortion anywhere in the country. Striking it down essentially puts the US on the same page as Canada: we both have no federal laws protecting its accessibility. Instead each province (or state), decides how to deliver women’s reproductive health care.

The problem in the US is a number of states, in anticipation of this decision, have already created a framework to deny women abortions. The difference in Canada is the Health Act, which ties timely and appropriate access to abortion to the cash provided by the federal government for our provincial health care system. New Brunswick is learning this lesson right now.