Abortion Anarchy? The Case for Abortion Decriminalization

Bibliographic Data

ID6451706
AuthorsKelly Gordon (0000-0002-5862-7055, McGill University, corresponding author), Rachael Johnstone (0000-0002-7389-8945, Dalhousie University)
Year2024
Volume34
Issue2
Pages168-187
Publication date2024-06-05
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessYes
TypeARTICLE
VenueSocial & Legal Studies (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 0964-6639 • E-ISSN: 1461-7390
PublisherSAGE Publishing (PUBLISHER • US)
DOI10.1177/09646639241256011
OpenAlexW4399383971
LanguageEN
Citations received1
References cited37

For most of the last 35 years, Canada has stood alone as a global exception to the criminalization of abortion. Following the 1988 Supreme Court decision in R. v. Morgentaler, which deemed the existing federal abortion law unconstitutional, Canada has operated without criminal restrictions on abortion. Despite the distinctive nature of Canada's approach, there is a dearth of scholarly work that has explicitly traced the process through which abortion decriminalization materialized and offered an in-depth examination of its effectiveness. This paper aims to address this gap in two ways. First, it traces the process through which abortion decriminalization emerged in Canada, which resulted from a combination of context-specific circumstances and sociopolitical factors. Second, it argues that while Canada's pathway to abortion decriminalization is distinct and may not be directly transferable to other contexts, there are nonetheless insights to be drawn from the Canadian experience. The promise of abortion decriminalization, as both a governance and advocacy framework, lies in its efficacy, its ability to navigate constraints of the law, and its strategic and symbolic advantages

Abortion · Decriminalization · Political science · Pregnancy · Demographic Trends and Gender Preferences · Law · Reproductive Health and Contraception · Reproductive Health and Technologies

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