Abortion in Canada - Politics

Politics

Of the main federal parties, the Green Party of Canada and the New Democratic Party are staunchly pro-choice; while the Liberal Party of Canada and Conservative Party of Canada have both pro-choice and pro-life members (and neither party has an official position on abortion). Traditionally, more Liberal members are pro-choice than pro-life, and more Conservative members are pro-life than pro-choice. The ambiguity in the official stances of these two main parties has occasionally created disputes within the parties.

The Conservative Party, for instance, has had to wrestle with combining the conflicting social policies of its two predecessor parties, the moderate Progressive Conservative Party of Canada and the more right-wing Canadian Alliance, which merged in 2003. Many socially conservative Alliance supporters were angered at the prospect of pro-choice Belinda Stronach winning the leadership election in early 2004, while some Conservatives objected during the 2004 federal election to the new party's perceived openness to legislation that would restrict abortion rights. In the March 2005 policy convention, in a narrow vote, the party voted to not introduce legislation on the subject of abortion. (Members can still introduce private members bills on the issue)

The centrist Liberal Party, on the other hand, has a pro-life caucus that, while not publicly fighting to change party policy, has created a degree of uncertainty in how the party would handle the issue were it to be brought up in Parliament. Liberal MP Paul Steckle introduced in June 2006 a bill that if passed, would make abortion after 20 weeks gestation a criminal act. The bill has not been acted on since its introduction.

Although the issue of abortion rights has popped up from time to time in Federal elections as a wedge issue, the issue is consistently rated as a low priority for most Canadians. The Christian Heritage Party of Canada claims to be Canada's only stated pro-life federal political party, but has never had a member elected to parliament.

Motion 312 was introduced by Conservative MP Stephen Woodworth in 2012, calling for a House of Commons committee to determine when human life begins, but was defeated 203-91.