Trudeau’s Minister of Public Safety, Marco Mendicino, has spoken to the Canada Border Services Agency to ensure that Americans looking to access abortion services are free to do so in the wake of the Roe v. Wade leak.
“I’ve engaged CBSA; my office is currently working with them to make sure there are clear guidelines so that women who may not be able to access healthcare, including abortions, are able to come to Canada,” Mendicino said.
“If some women want to come to Canada to access those procedures, I have given them the directive to welcome them.”
Mendicino says that while Americans looking to exploit Canada’s healthcare system already can, he wants to “eliminate any ambiguity” for border agents, all while Canadian citizens remain barred from leaving their own country.
Mendicino’s comments come after someone or some group leaked a US Supreme Court draft majority opinion indicating that they had the votes and intended to strike down Roe v. Wade, making abortion a State issue.
“We hold that Roe and Casey must be overruled,” writes Justice Samuel Alito in the leaked document. “It is time to heed the Constitution and return the issue of abortion to the people’s elected representatives.”
“…. Roe was egregiously wrong from the start. Its reasoning was exceptionally weak, and the decision has had damaging consequences. And far from bringing about a national settlement of the abortion issue, Roe and Casey have enflamed debate and deepened division.”
PM Justin Trudeau is, of course, making the most out of renewed interest in the abortion issue — which isn’t really a wedge issue in Canada — and has all but promised to codify abortion into law.
“The freedom of a woman to choose belongs to her and her alone,” Trudeau said, adding that he’s directed Minister Jean-Yves Duclos “to look at the legal framework” regarding abortion to make sure “that not just under this government, but under any future government, the rights of women are properly protected.”