TORONTO (AP) — Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau warned Saturday that the U.S. Supreme Court decision to overturn a constitutional right to abortion may lead to the lack of other rights and indicated his country would proceed to permit Americans to get abortions in Canada.
Trudeau called the court’s decision “horrific” and voiced concern that the ruling could someday allow a rollback of legal protections for gay relationships, including the best for same-sex couples to marry.
“We all know that that is a particularly, not only scary, but disheartening time for therefore many ladies,” Trudeau said at a news conference in Kigali, Rwanda, on the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting.
“Women for generations have fought for more rights in america, (only) to see this setback, to fret as well about how this could be expanded to more rights be taken away in america,” he said.
“It is a reminder of how we have to be unequivocal in our defense of individuals’s rights, in not taking anything without any consideration, in staying vigilant, and at all times standing up for woman’s rights, for LBGT rights, for the rights of people who find themselves disenfranchised and marginalized,” he added.
Asked if his government would help American women looking for abortions in Canada, Trudeau did in a roundabout way respond, but said: “On a regular basis Americans who find themselves in Canada access our health care system in Canada and that’s actually something that may proceed,”
Nonetheless the associated fee, the necessity to travel and to have a passport make that prohibitive for some Americans.
The ruling is more likely to result in abortion bans in roughly half of American states.
Thirteen states, mainly within the South and Midwest, already had laws to ban abortion within the event Roe was overturned. One other half-dozen states have near-total bans or prohibitions after six weeks, before many ladies know they’re pregnant.
Trudeau vowed to proceed to arise for woman’s rights within the U.S. and elsewhere.
“We’ve got a commitment in Canada to make sure, to start with, that each women has full, secure legal access to the complete suite of sexual health and reproductive services, including secure and legal abortions and we’ve been working hard to extend access to women across the country,” Trudeau said.
