8 Chapter 8 The Disadvantages of Abortion Laws in Canada

Throughout this semester, we have looked at four different crime fiction novels, each conveying a different theme, and each novel having different important topics that were introduced. In The Lost Ones, a couple important topics that emerged were assault, rape, and pregnancy.  In the novel, the protagonist, Nora Watts, is brutally assaulted, raped and left for dead. She was still alive but suffered from falling into a coma. During the months she was in the coma, she was pregnant and could not consent to an abortion. When she woke up, she did not want to have the child but Canadian laws would not fund for her abortion since it was after five months. While this is just one example in the novel, it conveys the overall attitudes of abortion laws in Canada. Many women and politicians are unhappy with the laws of abortion that they have to face in Canada, and they, including Nora Watts from The Lost Ones, feel they should be changed for reasons such as location, money, and politics.

Abortions in Canada are rare. Most people from the United States believe that since Canada has more laid back laws on abortion, they have more abortions than the States. Contrary to popular belief, Canada actually has less abortions than the States, counting at 12.1 abortions for 1000 women in the US, and only 8.03 abortions in Canada. (Kappler, 2019) This is because many of the abortions in Canada are done only when the pregnancy is a threat to the mother’s health, or the baby has some kind of disorder such as Trisomy 18, which typically kills 90% of babies before their first birthday, (Kappler, 2019) In the British Columbia Healthlink, it gives info on when a woman can have an abortion, and it states, “Abortions are rarely done after 24 weeks of pregnancy (during the late second trimester and entire third trimester).” (Healthlink, 2019)

While it is still legal in Canada, it is hard to get one, which makes them so rare. Mark Gollom from the CBC News writes, “While abortion remains legal in Canada, some abortion rights advocates say women continue to face hurdles in accessing the procedure. Funding, distance to medical facilities and a patchwork of provincial laws all mean an abortion is not as easy to obtain in Canada as some may think.” (Gollom, 2019) These reasons are why women are frustrated with the laws against abortion. It is not equally accessible to everyone in Canada, and many insurance companies have placed limits on funding for the procedure. Gollom continues, “For women living outside of big urban centres like Toronto, Montreal and Vancouver, accessing the procedure “becomes really tricky,” (Gollom, 2019) Different cities have different laws on abortion, just like in the US. Ontario has its own set of laws, such as not funding every abortion clinic that they have. Some cities such as New Brunswick only fund abortions in hospitals. This is a major concern for women living in these cities, and for those living far away from cities that do fund abortions it is difficult for these women to get there via transportation. In a Refinery29 article, it states, “Most abortion clinics are located within 150 kilometres of the U.S. border, which means women may need to pay for travel and miss work to get to them.” (Refinery29, 2019) It is still legal in Canada, but it is not accessible for everyone, and there are many hurdles women have to cross to get one in the country. This information has allowed me to feel how Nora must have felt in The Lost Ones, as she was not a wealthy woman and did not have access to an abortion, she had to have her child, like most women in Canada.

Politics also play a big concern for abortion. Since it is a very heated topic, and many people have very different opinions on if it should be legalized or not, Canada faces many challenges on the laws of abortion. Just recently, there was a law passed in the United States called the “heartbeat law” which means a woman cannot have an abortion once the doctor can hear a heartbeat, which is typically after six weeks. While this is happening in the United States, many anti-abortion rights activists in Canada have started creating riots and arguements that this law should also be passed in Canada. In a survey on Refinery29’s website, more than 50% of women are worried that abortion laws in Canada will become more restricted. (Refinery29, 2019) With growing anti-abortion groups in the US, many Canadian women feel that their rights might not be protected in the future. The election of Justin Trudeau has sparked a lot of controversy. When he was elected, there was an anti-abortion political group that was co-founded by Alissa Golob who’s goal was to, “elect pro-life politicians across the country, so we can start passing life-saving legislation for the first time in over 40 years.” (Refinery29, 2019) This could be a major setback for pro-abortion advocates in Canada. Justin Trudeau has been known to be a womens rights activist, but hasn’t done anything in office to help fund abortion in Canada. Politics like this could be one reason why Nora was not allowed to have an abortion while she was in a coma, and this relates to her like it relates to many women in Canada.

Many of these facts are relevant in Canada, and they are also relevant in the novel, The Lost Ones. As stated above, The Lost Ones’ protagonist endured an assault and rape which lead to her falling pregnant in a coma.She could not consent to having an abortion during the first five months while she was in a coma, and after five months Canada stops funding for abortions. In the novel it says, “… she was found dumped in a ditch, wrapped in a blanket, raped and beaten to death. Except she wasn’t actually dead, despite appearances… Spent six months in a coma, during which time her attacker was never found. She woke up and discovered she was pregnant, but the providence stops funding abortion services after five months, so she couldn’t do anything about it.” (pg 185) This quote sums up everything that happened to Nora, and also the fact that she could not get an abortion after five months. Nora, along with many other women have had to face many challenges relating to abortion, and Canada’s laws are not good to fall back on. Each of these research topics has led me to see the novel in a new way, and be able to have empathy for Nora in The Lost Ones. This research of real life women facing these issues makes the novel more real to a reader like me.

While abortion is still legal in Canada, it is very difficult to access. Many women are only able to get abortions if the pregnancy is a threat to their own physical health. If a woman wants to get an abortion for personal reasons rather than medical reasons, she has to leap through many hurdles to make this happen. Cities all have different funding procedures, and most abortion clinics are located very far away from most women. They typically would have to take off work and pay major fees to have one. Politics in the United States and Canada have created some issues for pro-abortion advocates. New laws in the United States have been passed that have created some controversy for Canadian officials. With all of this, we can see Nora’s struggles in The Lost Ones. In the novel just briefly mentions this issue, but it is a real world problem in Canada. Many women are very upset about the laws of abortion, and there needs to be major policy changes that allow women to access abortions more easily.

Works Cited

How Abortion Became One Of The Hot-button Issues Of This Election Carli Whitwell https://www.refinery29.com/en-ca/abortion-election-canada-2019 (Links to an external site.)

Abortion HealthLink BC https://www.healthlinkbc.ca/health-topics/tw1040 (Links to an external site.)

Abortion May Be Legal in Canada, but That Doesn’t Mean It’s Easy To Access CBC News https://www.cbc.ca/news/health/abortion-access-canada-us-bans-1.5140345 (Links to an external site.)

Here’s How Canada’s Abortion Policies Work Maija Kappler – https://www.huffingtonpost.ca/entry/how-canadian-abortion-policy-actually-works_ca_5cd5634be4b07bc72977a5ef (Links to an external site.)

Kamal, Sheena. The Lost Ones. William Morrow, an Imprint of Harpercollins Publishers, 2018.