A vote on a private’s members bill that would “amend the Criminal Code to prohibit a medical practitioner from performing a sex selective abortion” will happen Wednesday (June 2) in the House of Commons.
The vote on Bill C-233, also known as the Sex-Selective Abortion Act, will determine whether or not it would proceed to committee. “That is the next step, where then you would have an opportunity to bring forward witnesses and stakeholders to discuss the Bill and possibly make amendments and then take it back to the House.” Conservative MP for Yorkton-Melville Cathay Wagantall said.
Wagantall first introduced Bill C-233 on February 26, 2020 and since then has gone through two hours of debate in the House of Commons on April 14 and this past Friday, May 28.
She spoke on Tuesday of the second hour of debate, and admitted her confidence in getting support for her Bill from the other parties was not high. “The feedback within the House during the debate was disturbing because it was so not reflective of the actual content of the Bill, which led me to believe either they’re not truly aware of what the Bill entails or their preference is just simply to not support it.” she said.
NDP MP Niki Ashton called Bill C-233 “nothing more than a backdoor attempt to criminalize abortion and attack our reproductive rights” – a common criticism during the debates. Bloc Quebecois MP Christine Normandin accused Wagantall of “trying to use the Criminal Code to regulate medical practice, which is not something that falls under federal jurisdiction.”
On the other side of the debate, Conservative MP Tamara Jansen cited a statement from the Justice Minister David Lametti, in response to a petition submitted by Wagantall, stating the federal government’s position on the issue of sex-selective abortion. “He stated unequivocally that the Government of Canada ‘condemns all practices that are motivated by discriminatory views of women and girls, including sex-selective practices’. Let me highlight that official statement once more: The Government of Canada condemns sex-selective practices.” Jansen said.
In addition to amending the Criminal Code, the Act would require “the Minister of Health, after consultation with representatives of the provincial governments responsible for health, to establish guidelines respecting information provided by a medical practitioner in relation to a request for an abortion.”
“It’s time for Canada to step up and take a human rights approach,” Wagantall stated. “When abortions are being chosen simply on the basis on the sex of the child, Canadians do not agree with that.”