Abortion in Canada

Abortion in Canada is legal at all stages of pregnancy, regardless of the reason. It is publicly funded as a medical procedure under the combined effects of the federal Canada Health Act and provincial health-care systems. However, access to services and resources varies by region. While some non-legal barriers to access still exist, Canada is the only nation with absolutely no criminal restrictions on abortion. Nevertheless, no providers in Canada offer abortion care beyond 23 weeks and 6 days as outlined by provincial regulatory authorities for physicians.
In Canada, abortion was formally banned in 1869. It would remain illegal for the next 100 years. In 1969, the "Criminal Law Amendment Act, 1968–69" legalized therapeutic abortions, as long as a committee of doctors certified that continuing the pregnancy would likely endanger the woman's life or health. In 1988, the Supreme Court of Canada ruled in "R. v. Morgentaler" that the existing law was unconstitutional, and struck down the 1969 Act. The ruling found that the 1969 abortion law violated a woman's right to “life, liberty and security of the person” guaranteed under Section 7 of the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms established in 1982.
In Canada, all surgical abortions are performed by a physician, with nurse practitioners, pharmacists and midwives able to provide medications for non-invasive medical abortions within nine weeks (63 days) of gestation. Canada has had a relatively stable abortion rate since decriminalization; the rate of recorded abortion per 1000 women of childbearing age (15-44) was 10.2 in 1974, rising to 16.4 abortions per thousand women in 1997, and declining to 10.1 abortions per 1000 women in 2020. However, these rates of abortion only reflect the number of abortions reported by abortion clinics and hospitals. They do not account for unreported abortions in these setting or count abortions induced by prescription drugs such as mifepristone and misoprostol taken at home, and so these official rates of abortion undercount the true rate of abortion. Nevertheless, Canada has a low abortion rate overall compared to other countries,