The Constitutionality of Abortion Policy in New Brunswick – cover

Tia Beaudoin, a recent Political Science Honours graduate at University of New Brunswick, has kindly offered her thesis as a series of guest blog posts on the subject of the abortion policy in NB, with particular regard to the laws that have resulted in abortion being virtually inaccessible for much of the Maritimes.

As it’s very long, I’ve broken it up into multiple posts:

Cover / Works Cited
Introduction
Chapter 1: A Social and Legal History of Abortion in Canada
Chapter 2: New Brunswick: Openly Defying the Canada Health Act
Conclusion

As an editor’s note, I should point out that Dr. Henry Morgentaler died last May, and after his death, the clinic he founded in New Brunswick — which he’d been fighting to force the government to cover the costs of the procedures done there in the courts over the last 11 years — was forced to close for lack of funding, despite the Canada Health Act requiring funding of abortions. The provincial government, thanks to Regulation 84-20, only covers funding for abortions recommended by two doctors as “medically necessary” — a law that makes it nearly impossible to obtain the two doctors’ sign-off during the mandated first twelve weeks of the woman’s pregnancy. Those two facts essentially make it impossible to get medical funding, and the clinic under Morgentaler had mandated to never turn away a woman in need. As a result, it has lost close to $100,000 over the past ten years.

Worse, the lawsuit was dropped in the wake of the ongoing backlash against Regulation 84-20.

The Constitutionality of Abortion Policy in New Brunswick

Examining New Brunswick within the Canadian Context

Tia Beaudoin

Dr. J. Wright, POLS 4000

May 1, 2013

Works Cited

Abortion. Law and Morality: Readings in Legal Philosophy. Edited by David Dyzenhaus and Arthur Ripstein. Toronto: University of Toronto Press, 2001.

Arthur, Joyce. Abortion Rights Coalition of Canada, “The Case for Repealing Anti-Abortion Laws.” Last modified January 2009. http://www.arcc-cdac.ca/press/repeal.pdf.

Arthur, Joyce. Pro-Choice Action Network, Can Abortion be De-funded in Canada? Last modified 2002. http://www.prochoiceactionnetwork-canada.org/prochoicepress/02spring.shtml.

Aglukkaq, Leona. Health Canada, Canada Health Act Annual Report 2011-2012. Last modified December 2012. http://publications.gc.ca/collections/collection_2013/sc-hc/H1-4-2012-eng.pdf.

Borkoff, Cornelia et al. “The effect of patients’ sex on physicians’ reccomendations for total knee arthroplasty.” no. 6 (2008).

Bundale, Brett. “Abortion lawsuit languishes.” The Daily Gleaner, January 21, 2011.

Chief Medical Officer of Health, New Brunswick Department of Health. Teenage Pregnancy in New Brunswick. Health Indicators. no. 1 (2011). http://www2.gnb.ca/content/dam/gnb/Departments/hs/pdf/en/Publications/Health_Indicators1.pdf

Clement, Tony. Health Canada, Canada Health Act Annual Report, 2006-2007. Last modified December 2007. http://www.hc-sc.gc.ca/hcs-sss/pubs/cha-lcs/2006-cha-lcs-ar-ra/index-eng.php

Clement, Tony. Health Canada, Canada Health Act Annual Report, 2005-2006. Last modified December 2006. http://www.hc-sc.gc.ca/hcs-sss/pubs/cha-lcs/2005-cha-lcs-ar-ra/index-eng.php#a4

de Beauvoir, Simone. The Second Sex. New York: Knopf, 1953.

Dickson, Jeremy. “Abortion lawsuit sparks rally.” The Daily Gleaner, May 17, 2007.

English, John, Richard Gwyn, and Whitney Lackenbauer. The Hidden Pierre Elliott Trudeau: The Faith Behind the Politics. Toronto: Novalis, 2004.

Government of Canada, Consitution Act 1982. http://laws-lois.justice.gc.ca/eng/Const/page-15.html.

International Women’s Health Program, Sexual and Reproductive Rights and Health: Safe Abortion. Last modified 2009. http://iwhp.sogc.org/index.php?page=safe-abortion&hl=en_US.

Johnstone, Rachel. “The Politics of Abortion in Canada After Morgentaler: Women’s Rights as Citizenship Rights.” PhD diss., Queen’s University, 2012.

Judgements of the Supreme Court of Canada, R. v. Morgentaler. Last modified January 28, 1988. http://scc.lexum.org/decisia-scc-csc/scc-csc/scc-csc/en/item/288/index.do.

Lawnix, “Roe v. Wade – Case Brief Summary.” Last modified 2012. http://www.lawnix.com/cases/roe-wade.html.

Llewellyn, Stephen. “Abortion Policy makes N.B. look ‘backwoods’, says NDP Leader.” The Daily Gleaner, May 24, 2006.

McKay, Alexander. “Trends in Canadian national and provincial/territorial teen pregnancy rates: 2001-2010.” The Candian Journal of Human Sexuality. no. 3&4 (2013): 161-175.

Morris, Chris. “Morgentaler gets legal standing to take on N.B..” The Daily Gleaner, August 9, 2008.

Ormsby, Mary. The ‘Abortion Caravan’ Succeeded. Or did it?.” The Toronto Star, May 30, 2010. http://www.thestar.com/news/canada/2010/05/30/the_abortion_caravan_succeeded_or_did_it.html (accessed April 23, 2013).

Palley, Howard. “Canadian Abortion Policy: National Policy and the Impact of Federalism and Political Implementation on Access to Services.” Pubilis. no. 4 (2006): 565-586.

Pro-Choice Action Network, A Legal History of Abortion in Canada.” Accessed April 23, 2013. http://www.prochoiceactionnetwork-canada.org/abortioninfo/history.shtml.

Rockel, Nick. Globe and Mail, October 26, 2010. http://www.theglobeandmail.com/report-on-business/henry-morgentaler-fought-a-long-battle-to-decriminalize-abortion-in-canada/article1216155/

Rodgers, Sandra, and Jocelyn Downie. “Abortion: ensuring access.” Canadian Medical Association Journal. no. 1 (2006): 9.

Shaw, Jessica. Reality Check: a close look at accessing abortion services in Canadian hospitals. Ottawa: Canadians for Choice, 2006.

Teaching American History, “Amendments to the Constitution of the United States of America.” Last modified 2012. http://teachingamericanhistory.org/library/index.asp?document=6

Thompson, Judith. “A Defense of Abortion.” Philosophy and Public Affairs. no. 1 (1971).

“Will Harper’s abortion stonewall crumble around him?.” Telegraph-Journal, April 5, 2013.

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The Constitutionality of Abortion Policy in New Brunswick – cover
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