Often we feel nervous about displaying lawn signs, or having a decal on the back of our vehicle. It is definitely a bold move, but boldness is very much what is needed to engage the culture and change hearts and minds. We’ve put together a few talking points you can use in quick conversations, as well as provided links to more detailed answers for harder questions that might come up.

Scenario 1: Someone comments on the sign with curiosity

You: I recently learned that Canada is the only country in the world that has no abortion laws. Did you know abortion is legal through all 9 months of pregnancy in Canada? Most people didn’t know that, and these signs are meant to educate people and get us thinking about whether we’re ok with that. I think unborn babies deserve protection at some point before they’re born – what are your thoughts on abortion?

Scenario 2: Hostile but unspecific reaction to the sign

You: I’m sorry my sign is making you upset. Can you help me understand what you’re upset about? Is it because we have no abortion laws? Or because you like that there are no laws because you don’t think unborn babies should have any protection before birth?

If you remember only one thing when someone asks about the sign, it should be this: ask questions. The sign asks a question, and we ask you to do the same. We want to get a conversation going that leaves them pondering even after leaving the discussion. Do not feel embarrassed or apologetic about your position – simply state it plainly and ask for their thoughts. This takes the pressure off you to know exactly what to say to convince them, and makes them think about their own reaction.

For more specific questions, you’re going to want more specific answers. So if someone says, “What about all the unwanted babies who will grow up in abusive homes?” or “What about cases of severe fetal abnormalities?”, you’ll be ready to defend the value of life and ask the right questions to get them thinking.

Elsewhere on our website you can find clear answers to 12 of the most common questions asked in the abortion debate, including those mentioned above. We also have a series of video answers near the bottom of this webpage to FAQs about our International Standards Law, the initiative we are actively promoting in hopes of seeing a bill introduced in Parliament in the near future.

With these more detailed answers, it’s also great to end with a simple question, such as, “What do you think about that?” or “Does that help you understand my position?”

If you would like further clarification, or have a question about something not covered in our FAQs, don’t hesitate to contact us! We are passionate about sharing the message of life’s value with Canadians, and know we cannot do it alone. Thank you for your willingness to engage with your community – you make a difference by taking a stand!

This summer we are running a national billboard campaign that has garnered a lot of attention, both positive and negative. Funded by our grassroots supporters, the goal of our simple billboard message is to take the abortion debate back to the basics. Polls show that the vast majority of Canadians are unaware that Canada has no abortion law. In fact, most are quite convinced there IS a law. With a name like “We Need a Law” this obviously makes discussions pretty challenging for our organization so, first things first, we need to set the record straight.

Abortion has been legal in Canada since 1969. In 1988, all remaining restrictions were struck from the Criminal Code. The Supreme Court justices made it very clear that they were striking an unconstitutionally obstructive law in the assumption that Parliament would craft a new one.

Parliament did not, and so Canada is the only democracy in the world to have no law regarding abortion. We even have a section in the Criminal Code stating that a child gains the rights of a person “when it has completely proceeded, in a living state, from the body of its mother.” This means that the status quo on abortion extends far beyond the crisis pregnancy situation most people picture when they think of abortion. This means that when a pregnant woman is murdered, her child is not considered a victim, no matter how far along she was in her pregnancy. It means parents who find out they’re expecting a girl when they’d rather have a boy, can (and do) request and receive an abortion.

This is the status quo in Canada.

Abortion rights advocates are calling for the removal of the billboard ads and recruiting people to complain. A lawyer called the ad “misleading” while at the same time admitting that Canada has no abortion laws. This is a message abortion activists have been using for years, but they are upset to hear us say the same thing, and clearly flummoxed on how to debunk their own claim. Joyce Arthur, spokesperson for the Abortion Rights Coalition of Canada, has taken many opportunities to tout the fact that Canada has no abortion law, and their website declares this clearly. And yet, she describes the ad with words like, “demeaning, discriminatory and degrading.”

What is demeaning is to think women, or anyone, want anything less than the truth.

The reaction to our simple billboard tells us a lot about where the abortion debate stands, and affirms the need for this return to the basics. What we really want is for people to get past the polarizing rhetoric and think.  Think of the last pregnancy you witnessed, whether it was your own, your friend’s, your partner’s, your neighbour, your employee, your sister, your daughter, or the cashier at your grocery store. At what point was that child worthy of protection? Would the mother agree with your perspective? What is it about wantedness that gives value to a human life? What about the women who grew up in poverty and abuse and keep hearing the message that they would have been better off aborted?

This debate gets personal fast, as evidenced by some of the shocking, ugly messages sent our way over the past weeks in response to these billboards. But if this ad is unacceptable, what ad on abortion would be acceptable? We should be able to challenge opinions and question the status quo without hateful backlash and fearful censorship. How will we grow, debate, change, and develop in an environment that shuts down controversial debate? We can all drive past billboards selling us burgers, trucks, and vacations, but not a billboard that challenges us?

We are better than that.

This ad takes it back to the basics. It doesn’t offer solutions, it doesn’t address the myriad social structural failures we need to address. It simply asks people to think about whether they are ok with this status quo. If they are not, we’d love to join with them in starting somewhere, for women and pre-born children, because human rights should apply to all human beings.

In discussing abortion Peterson is clear that it is morally wrong. He calls out politicians for their weak approach to the issue, leaving it in the hands of the courts rather than taking responsibility and action.

It is interesting to see Peterson call for a poll of Canadians to find common ground where abortion regulation can start. Most Canadians, he says, likely do not support abortion at 9 months gestation. It would be simple, he continues, for the government to roll out a variety of legislative propositions and see what people think.

We are already aware from past polls that there is little approval for sex-selective abortion, lack of recognition for pre-born victims of crime, and late-term abortions. This indicates a majority of Canadians do not support the status quo of open access to abortion for any reason.

The majority of democratic nations regulate abortion after the first trimester, and it is this standard which our International Standards Law is modeled after. These regulations include access to counseling and waiting periods, to ensure women are not coerced or pressured, and are giving fully informed consent. Comprehensive polling and legislative propositions from the government would be a bold move, an indication that they are willing to tackle this issue head-on and find common ground to build on.

Free speech is very much at stake in Canada, and the pro-life movement is a popular target. Bubble zones are being implemented around abortion clinics, preventing positive pro-life messages from reaching women seeking abortions. Advertisements are being judged inaccurate and demeaning despite conveying truth. It is more important than ever that we refuse to be silenced. Instead, we must continue to speak up, to seek common ground with our fellow Canadians, and to take steps that will protect the most vulnerable members of the human family.

The whole interview is very interesting, but you can start around 27 minutes to catch his thoughts on abortion.

Of course, it is also true that many elected lawmakers view pre-born children as a political liability and this has most certainly contributed to a thirty-year void when it comes to regulating abortion in Canada. But we do need to acknowledge that the pro-life movement carries some of the responsibility for the political failures in the past three decades. Yet, in the six years our organization has been active, we see plenty of reason for hope!

Breakenridge asserts that

“[t]he pro-life movement seems to be holding out for an unattainable goal of classifying abortion as murder and ending it altogether, rather than focusing on a much more reasonable and attainable goal of reducing the number of abortions.

While polls show that most Canadians support a woman’s right to choose, it doesn’t mean that Canadians are enthusiastically pro-abortion. A goal of a lower abortion rate would have a fairly broad appeal and support. And it’s one the pro-life movement will never embrace.”

With these two short paragraphs Breakenridge shows he is dead wrong.

A growing part of the pro-life movement recognizes that the all-or-nothing approach has resulted in exactly that – nothing. New, young, politically-motivated pro-lifers are embracing opportunities to reduce the abortion rate. Our organization, We Need a Law, advocates for incremental laws that focus on the common ground the majority of Canadians stand on in this debate. We understand that it’s better to save some than none.

By working on bills that, at the very least, would bring Canada into line with nearly every other democracy in the world when it comes to regulating abortion, we are focusing on prudence, wisdom, and a heartfelt desire to protect as many pre-born children as we can. Even if these bills do not pass the first time around polls indicate that there is a broad base of support for some abortion regulations. For example, banning sex-selective abortion, which typically targets girls, would have support from more than 90% of Canadians. We also believe, with the majority of Canadians, that pre-born children who are killed in an act of violent crime, such as murder or assault of the mother, should be viewed as victims. Another area we focus is the gestational age at which abortion can no longer occur. Approximately 80% of Canadians mistakenly believe we have law that prohibits late-term abortion, and are shocked to discover abortion is legal through all 9 months of pregnancy.

We have studied abortion laws in other countries and are inspired by democratic nations similar to ours such as Germany, France and Spain. These, and many others, limit abortion to the first trimester, and offer counseling and time for a woman to make the challenging decision about abortion.

We hear over and over again how many women felt like abortion was their “only choice” – that’s not a choice at all, and something the pro-abortion movement should be equally concerned about. We all care about women. The difference is that pro-lifers also care about children.

January 28th marks the 30^th anniversary of the Morgentaler ruling, which eliminated abortion restrictions from our Criminal Code. The Prime Minister at the time, Brian Mulroney, made two attempts at passing legislation that protected fetal interests and, for a variety of reasons (among them, all-or-nothing pro-lifers), both failed to pass. Since then, governments of all stripes have avoided discussing abortion legislation. Justin Trudeau is doing his best to change that.

Whether intentional or not, the changes the Liberals have made to the Canada Summer Jobs program have evoked a national conversation about abortion that we haven’t seen in decades. A common theme in all the backlash – from a surprising variety of places – against Trudeau and the Liberals is that Canadians do not support opinion-policing by the government, whether or not they agree with the opinion being policed.

The criticism has especially focused on Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s dogged determination to reference “reproductive rights” as an actual Charter right.  Doing so indicates either a serious lack of knowledge regarding the contents of the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms, or a serious lack of concern for what it contains.

Is abortion a “right”?

The rights laid out in the Charter are those of life, liberty, and security of the person. No matter how many times the Liberals attach “and access to abortion”, it does not make it true. On January 28, 1988, the Supreme Court issued a landmark ruling that removed all abortion restrictions from the law. They deemed Canada’s existing abortion regulations as unconstitutional in that it unnecessarily impeded and delayed access to abortion, so infringing on a woman’s right to liberty and security of the person. What this ruling did NOT do, however, was declare a constitutional “right” to abortion. In fact, it turned responsibility over to Parliament to make a new law.

As stated so succinctly by the National Post: “Fact check: What permits unrestricted abortion in Canada is not a law, but the absence of one. There is an important difference. The Supreme Court struck down what it ruled were overly restrictive laws in 1988, and gave Parliament a year to come up with replacements. Parliament tried, failed, and gave up, apparently forever.”

We saw this situation recently with the debate around medically assisted dying, or euthanasia. The laws were struck down and Parliament was given a set amount of time to create new ones, or a free-for-all would ensue. This time they buckled down and did their duty before euthanasia, like abortion, was left in the hands of the medical community to decide.

Some argue that the guidelines implemented by the medical community do, in fact, suffice with regards to abortion. However, just as there are many excellent reasons not to let doctors decide when their patients should die, so there are many reasons not to let abortion doctors decide when abortion is allowable. What other industry allows the stakeholders to make the decisions regarding the legality of their dealings?

Canada needs an abortion law.

The majority of Canadians are unaware that abortion is legal throughout all 9 months of pregnancy, and when informed of the status quo show support for bans on things such as sex-selective abortion or third-trimester abortion, with 77% saying they think abortion should be illegal in the last 3 months. The Canadian Medical Association sets viability outside the womb at 20 weeks gestation, and prenatal surgeries are growing, showing clearly the humanity of children in the same stages of development as some of those being aborted.

Many countries, such as Germany and Spain, have laws protecting pre-born human rights after the first trimester. It is time Canada got in line by passing an International Standards Abortion law that regulates abortion after the first trimester.

Pregnancy, planned or unplanned, can certainly be inconvenient, disruptive and fraught with stress. Undoubtedly a discussion on abortion at the national political level will also be inconvenient and disruptive, and fraught with stress. That doesn’t take away from the reality that pregnancy involves a real human child who should have his or her human rights protected. Canadians are willing to have hard conversations.

Thirty years ago the Supreme Court left it up to Parliament to decide how abortion ought to be regulated. Canadians can be encouraged to know that the national conversation launched by the Conservatives under Brian Mulroney is being continued today by Prime Minister Trudeau and the Liberals. It’s time to see that conversation move into the House of Commons again with the introduction of a bill that offers a reasonable response to the Morgentaler decision.

Please share on social media, and if you’re interested in receiving some hard copies to share with your community, fill in our contact form or email us at info@test.weneedalaw.ca.

Thank you for your continued support in spreading the word about the hard facts of abortion in Canada. These numbers remind us once again how important this work is, and how far we have to go.

The day started bright and early at 7:00 am with more than 20 volunteers ready to plant flags. Some of these volunteers stayed around to engage with passerby, and more joined us throughout the day. The response, from an incredibly diverse crowd of people, was overwhelmingly positive. We know statistics say that the majority of Canadians are unaware of the complete lack of abortion laws in Canada, and we know statistics say that the majority oppose things like late-term or sex-selective abortion. Yet there’s nothing quite like spending a day talking to people of all walks of life and getting such a supportive, encouraging response to really make you believe it.

From a recent Syrian immigrant with five children to a woman who regrets the abortion she had as a teenager, from young couples out for a stroll to moms walking over from the waterpark with their little ones, this community showed an immediate understanding of the injustice of our complete lack of abortion policy in Canada.

In a matter of hours we collected nearly 300 signatures for our International Standards Law petition, asking the government to start regulating abortion after the first trimester. (You can print a copy here and ask your friends and neighbours to sign too.) The majority of people we spoke to were eager to sign, and at least half who hesitated did so because they didn’t think this asked for enough. We spoke with many about our incremental approach, and the need to start somewhere – our desire to protect some while working to protect all.

At the end of the afternoon, as we started dismantling the flag display, numerous park patrons offered to help and we were able to take everything down in record time and share pizza and drinks with both volunteers and the community. It was a beautiful day  in every way. We hope that the seeds planted will bear fruit of action and be fodder for conversations in the lives of these people as they move within their own community circles, so the conversations we had that day can be had again and again. Through that, may more minds may be opened and hearts be changed so that laws reflecting Canadian values will be laws protecting life from its earliest stages.