Return to search

Bill C-510 and the Dilemma of Difference: Assessing the Role of Anti-violence Legislation in the Woman-protective Anti-abortion Movement

Recently, some in the anti-abortion movement have begun to assert that abortion harms
women and access to abortion should be restricted or prohibited to protect women’s
rights. This paper suggests that woman-protective anti-abortion (“WPA”) arguments
could become more recognizable in Canada if other kinds of woman-protective
legislation are adopted. In particular, this paper focuses on private member’s Bill C-510,
an Act to Prevent Coercion of Pregnant Women to Abort (Roxanne’s Law). This paper
suggests that Bill C-510 is problematic because its differential treatment of women
reinforces historical stereotypes of motherhood and female vulnerability, the same
stereotypes upon which the WPA relies. By reinforcing these same stereotypes, Bill C-
510 creates a climate in which WPA restrictions on access to abortion appear more reasonable. The paper concludes by suggesting that the existing aggravated
circumstances sentencing sections in the Criminal Code already provide judges with
discretionary powers to deal with offences like coerced abortion.

Identiferoai:union.ndltd.org:TORONTO/oai:tspace.library.utoronto.ca:1807/30114
Date30 November 2011
CreatorsDavies, Cara Elizabeth Jr.
ContributorsReaume, Denise
Source SetsUniversity of Toronto
Languageen_ca
Detected LanguageEnglish
TypeThesis

Page generated in 0.0023 seconds