The Politics of Abortion in Canada After Morgentaler: Women’s

266 Pages·2012·3.15 MB·English

by  Rachael Johnstone

The Politics of Abortion in Canada After Morgentaler: Women’s Rights as Citizenship Rights

by

Rachael Elizabeth Grace Johnstone

A thesis submitted to the Graduate Program in the Department of Political Studies
in conformity with the requirements for the Degree of Doctor of Philosophy

Queen’s University
Kingston, Ontario, Canada
November, 2012

Copyright © Rachael Elizabeth Grace Johnstone, 2012
Abstract
This dissertation explores the regulation of abortion in Canada following the landmark R
v Morgentaler decision (1988), which struck down Canada’s existing abortion law, causing the
procedure’s subsequent reclassification as a healthcare issue. The resulting fragility of abortion
rights is still evident in the varying provincial regulations governing the nature of access to the
procedure. While access has been accepted as the new terrain of abortion rights, research into
this area to date has taken a largely national focus, surveying provincial barriers and compiling
lists of potential motivations for differences in service. This dissertation builds on this work
through the use of specific case studies of provinces representative of a spectrum of access in
Canada – New Brunswick, Ontario, and Quebec. Through the use of original interview data,
these cases are compared and contrasted on previously enumerated grounds believed to have an
influence on the treatment of abortion. By isolating the impact of specific processes responsible
for the regulation of abortion, through research into its treatment in politics, law, medicine, and
public discourse, this study endeavours to offer a more nuanced explanation for varying levels of
provincial access to abortion services. Ultimately it finds that a province’s social climate,
characterized by attitudes towards the ongoing rights versus morality debate championed by pro-
and anti-choice social movements, has had the greatest impact in shaping public perceptions of
the procedure. These attitudes in turn have a profound effect on the nature of provincial access.
Using a citizenship framework grounded in social reproduction, which understands anti-
abortion politics as elements of backlash against progressive advances in women’s citizenship,
this dissertation argues for the need to understand abortion as a right of women’s citizenship to
address the precarious treatment of abortion services. Recognition of women’s unique
reproductive abilities through a citizenship paradigm is necessary before women can hope to
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achieve equality. Only when abortion is entrenched as a right of citizenship and this
understanding of the procedure is embedded in social perceptions, can women not only be
treated as equal citizens, but also understand themselves to be equal citizens.

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Acknowledgements
First and foremost, I would like to acknowledge my supervisor Dr. Abigail Bakan for her
support and guidance during my time at Queen’s. I have always found our discussions
enlightening and am grateful for her constant encouragement.
I must also thank the faculty and staff of the Political Studies Department, whose advice,
assistance, and welcoming attitudes helped me through this process. I would like to specifically
thank Margaret Little, Elizabeth Goodyear-Grant, Janet Hiebert, and Jonathan Rose.
Additionally, I want to acknowledge Barb Murphy, Frances Shepherd, Dianne Flint, Jennifer
Falle, Jeananne Vickery, Amelia Pont-Viveiros, Micheline Boomhour, and Karen Vandermey. I
would also like to thank the purveyors of the Graduate Dean’s Travel Grant for Doctoral Field
Research for supporting me in my research.
Life in the Department would not have been the same without my friends and colleagues,
with whom I shared countless entertaining conversations. I would like to acknowledge Megan
Gaucher, Lucia Salazar, Erin Tolley, Aaron Ettinger, Andrea Collins, Beesan Sarrouh, Erin
Clow, Jessie Lindley, Victoria Tait, Emmett MacFarlane, Anna Drake, Charan Rainford,
Adrienne Koning, Iain Reeve, and Sara Pavan for providing an invaluable support network. I
would also like to thank my longtime friend and officemate Chris Samuel.
I would be remiss if I did not thank Angela Pietrobon for her wonderful work editing my
thesis. I am also grateful to Joanne Wright, whose guidance and encouragement helped convince
me to pursue my doctorate in the first place.
I cannot forget to thank the Chevriers, my second family, for their lifelong love and
encouragement, especially Sara Dunton, for her comradery throughout this degree.
I would like to thank my parents, Lowell and Raylene Johnstone, and my brother, Robert
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Johnstone, for their endless love and support. They endured many late nights and plenty of stress
on my behalf in helping me to get here, for which I am eternally grateful. Finally, I must thank
my partner, Christopher Bennett, not only for his love and support, but for making the final leg
of this experience a truly happy one.

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Dedication
For my parents, Lowell and Raylene Johnstone, who, when I said I was going to study feminism
instead of medicine, said “Great!” And, when Gender and Politics led me to the study of abortion
access, said “Wonderful!” Thank you for talking about my work with pride no matter how
awkward dinner party conversations became. I love you both more than I could ever express.

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Table of Contents
Abstract ........................................................................................................................................... ii

Acknowledgements ........................................................................................................................ iv

Dedication ...................................................................................................................................... vi

Glossary of Acronyms .................................................................................................................... x

Chapter 1. Introduction ................................................................................................................... 1

Abortion as a Right of Citizenship ............................................................................................. 4

Methodology ............................................................................................................................. 10

Case Studies .............................................................................................................................. 11

Mixed-Method Approach: Documents and Interviews ............................................................ 14

Difficulties Accessing Information ........................................................................................... 20

Chapter Outlines ....................................................................................................................... 20

Chapter 2. Rights, Morality, and Abortion Access in Canada ...................................................... 26

The Moral and Rights Frames .................................................................................................. 26

Necessary Essentialism: Addressing Issues of Intersectionality in Body Politics .................... 33

Abortion Access in Canada: The Literature ............................................................................. 36

Original Contributions .............................................................................................................. 39

Chapter 3. “Fragile, Incomplete, and Contradictory”: Abortion in Canadian Federal Politics and
the Courts ...................................................................................................................................... 42

Law and Politics: Abortion Regulation Before 1988 ................................................................ 46

Dr. Henry Morgentaler ............................................................................................................. 50

Expanding Westward ............................................................................................................ 56

R v Morgentaler (1988) ......................................................................................................... 57

The Mulroney Administration .................................................................................................. 60

Testing the Limits of the Morgentaler Decision (1988) ........................................................... 62

Borowski ................................................................................................................................... 65

Bill C-43 ................................................................................................................................... 67

Pro-Choice Caucus ................................................................................................................... 70

The Harper Administration ....................................................................................................... 73

Conclusion ................................................................................................................................ 78

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Chapter 4. Political and Legal Responses to R v Morgentaler (1988) in the Provinces: Along a
Spectrum of Citizenship ................................................................................................................ 80

New Brunswick: Falling off the Spectrum ............................................................................... 83

Ontario: Citizenship Rights on Precarious Ground .................................................................. 97

Quebec: Women as Equal Citizens ......................................................................................... 102

Conclusion .............................................................................................................................. 110

Chapter 5. The Courts in Context: the Case of Abortion Rights in Canada ............................... 113

Feminist Legal Scholarship .................................................................................................... 115

Abortion in the Courts Before the Charter .............................................................................. 119

R v Morgentaler (1988) .......................................................................................................... 121

Testing the Limits of the Morgentaler Decision: Maternal, Paternal, and Fetal Rights ......... 124

Provincial Access .................................................................................................................... 128

Conclusion .............................................................................................................................. 134

Chapter 6. It’s Pro-Choice or No-Choice: Social Movement Activism in a Policy Vacuum ..... 137

Social Consensus and Social Movements: Views on Abortion in Canada ............................. 140

Silence in New Brunswick ...................................................................................................... 143

Ambivalence in Ontario .......................................................................................................... 150

Pro-Choice Quebec ................................................................................................................. 155

Conclusion .............................................................................................................................. 159

Chapter 7. Abortion in Medicine ................................................................................................ 162

The Procedure ......................................................................................................................... 166

The Organization of Physicians and Health Insurance in Canada .......................................... 168

Case Studies: Provincial Overlap in Service Provision .......................................................... 175

Facilities .............................................................................................................................. 175

Clinics ............................................................................................................................. 176

Crisis Pregnancy Centres ................................................................................................ 182

Hospitals ......................................................................................................................... 184

Training Future Providers ................................................................................................... 188

New Brunswick: Medically Unnecessary ............................................................................... 190

Ontario: High Levels of Service ............................................................................................. 195

Quebec: Pro-choice Practice ................................................................................................... 197

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Aboriginal Women and Access to Abortion Services ............................................................ 199

Conclusion .............................................................................................................................. 201

Chapter 8. Never Going Back: Women’s Experiences of Citizenship in Canada After
Morgentaler (1988) ..................................................................................................................... 204

Women’s Experiences of Citizenship ..................................................................................... 206

New Brunswick ................................................................................................................... 206

Ontario ................................................................................................................................ 207

Quebec ................................................................................................................................ 208

Moving Forward ..................................................................................................................... 209

Future Research ...................................................................................................................... 217

Conclusion .............................................................................................................................. 219

References ................................................................................................................................... 221

Original Research ................................................................................................................... 231

Appendix A. GREB Letter .......................................................................................................... 234

Appendix B. Letter of Information for Interviewees .................................................................. 235

Appendix C. Consent Form for Interviewees ............................................................................. 236

Appendix D. Recruitment Email Template ................................................................................ 237

Appendix E. Prevalence of Abortion by Province and Facility .................................................. 238

Appendix F. Interviewee Descriptions ....................................................................................... 243

Appendix G. Anti-Choice Private Member Bills and Motions Introduced in Canada Since 1987
..................................................................................................................................................... 247

Appendix H. Legislative Timelines ............................................................................................ 253

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Glossary of Acronyms
ARCC. Abortion Rights Coalition of Canada.
CARAL. Canadian Abortion Rights Action League.
CFC. Canadians for Choice.
CIHI. Canadian Institute for Health Information.
CLSC. Des Centres Locaux des Services Communautaries (Local Community Service Centres).
CMA. Canadian Medical Association.
CMQ. Collège des médecins du Québec (College of Physicians of Quebec).
CPSNB. College of Physicians and Surgeons of New Brunswick.
CPSO. College of Physicians and Surgeons of Ontario.
FQPN. Fédération du Québec pour le Planning des Naissances (Quebec Federation for Planned
Pregnancy).
MPP. Member of Provincial Parliament.
MLA. Member of the Legislative Assembly.
NAF. National Abortion Federation.
NDP. New Democratic Party.
PM. Prime Minister.
TAC. Therapeutic Abortion Committee.
SOGC. Society of Obstetricians and Gynecologists of Canada.

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