Why Abortion Feels Normal Today
The Supreme Court of Canada decriminalized abortion in 1988. One of the Justices in that case, Justice Wilson, explained her decision in terms of rights and freedoms. In an important sentence, Wilson explained, “The decision whether or not to terminate a pregnancy is essentially a moral decision and in a free and democratic society the conscience of the individual must be paramount to that of the state.”[1] In Canada and in Western society as a whole, the question of abortion often centres on questions of freedoms and rights. Yet are our assumptions about freedoms and rights justified? In this article,...