Abortion Ruling in Quebec

Abstract

Brahams summarizes a 1989 Quebec Court of Appeal decision in an abortion case and places the ruling in the context of worldwide trends in abortion regulation. In Tremblay v. Daigle (1989 Jul 26), the Quebec court upheld a lower court injunction banning a woman from having an abortion. The injunction had been obtained by the woman's former boyfriend, the putative father. Brahams discusses the current legal status of abortion in Canada, the Daigle court's reasoning, and how the British approach to the legal status of fathers and fetuses in abortion disputes differs from the Canadian. She also briefly summarizes recent abortion-related judicial and regulatory developments in the United States, Ireland, and France.A recent abortion ruling in Quebec could have far-reaching effects on abortion legislation in other countries and perhaps bolster the anti-abortion movement in the US. On July 26, 1989, the Quebec Court of Appeal upheld an injunction that banned a 21-year-old woman from obtaining an abortion. The injunction was obtained by the woman's boyfriend after the relationship was dissolved when she was in the 16th week of pregnancy. The upper limit for abortion in Canada is 20 weeks, but the woman was 21 weeks pregnant by the time the Court had reached its decision. Unlike the British courts, which deny putative fathers the legal right to interfere in decisions about abortion. Canada allocates a separate legal identity to the fetus. The Presiding Judge in the recent Canadian case stated that abortion "is not automatically an absolute right," and continued to say, "The unborn child is a living human entity distinct from the mother and has the right to life and protection from those who conceived it." The Quebec decision raises questions about whether physicians will feel compelled to inform male partners of a women's request for abortion.