Canada Open to Americans Seeking Abortions: Minister of Families

Karina Gould, Canada's then-minister of international development, speaks in the House of Commons on Parliament Hill in Ottawa, Ontario, on Dec. 10, 2019. Blair Gable/Reuters

Following the leak of a Supreme Court draft opinion indicating the court’s intention to overturn Roe v. Wade, Canada’s minister for families, children, and social development has said that her country welcomes Americans who wish to cross the border for abortions.

“I don’t see why we would not,” Minister Karina Gould told CBC News. “If they, people, come here and need access, certainly, you know, that’s a service that would be provided.” Gould also raised concerns about how Canadian women seeking abortions would be affected if Roe v. Wade were overturned.

Many Canadian women who do not live near a major city in the country access abortion services in the United States, she said. A spokesperson for Gould later told the CBC that Americans can obtain abortion services in Canada at a cost.

“Americans accessing health care services in Canada would continue to have to pay for the service out-of-pocket or by their own private insurance if they are not covered by a provincial health insurance, by the Interim Federal Health Program or Non-Insured Health Benefits,” the statement said.

In the leaked draft court opinion written by Justice Samuel Alito, the court appeared to have voted to overturn the 1973 Roe v. Wade decision. Roe declared abortion to be a constitutional right and prohibited state governments from passing laws that restricted access to it. The court also overruled the 1992 Planned Parenthood v. Casey decision that upheld Roe v. Wade.

The leaked majority opinion called the reasoning behind the Roe v. Wade decision “exceptionally weak,” pointing out that it has had “damaging consequences.” The leaked document was from February 2022, during which time the judges were still in the early phase of considering the matter.

A final decision on the issue is expected over the next couple of months. Chief Justice John Roberts has asked the Supreme Court marshal to investigate the document leak.

Earlier on May 3, Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau took to Twitter to make his stance clear on the issue.

“The right to choose is a woman’s right and a woman’s right alone. Every woman in Canada has a right to a safe and legal abortion. We’ll never back down from protecting and promoting women’s rights in Canada and around the world,” he wrote in a tweet.

The possible overturning of Roe v. Wade has triggered a heated debate over abortion in America. California Gov. Gavin Newsom, a Democrat, criticized the potential rollback of Roe v. Wade as a repressive measure that has “never happened before in our lifetimes.”

Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, a Republican, called the leak of the draft opinion a “judicial insurrection” that was possibly an attempt to “kneecap a potential majority through extra-constitutional means.” A supporter of pro-life protections, DeSantis said such protections are based on science and are a reflection of “who we are as a society.”

“The next important chapter in the legal story of abortion is going to involve how the state laws interact with each other,” said Matthew Forys, assistant general counsel for Landmark Legal Foundation in Leesburg, Virginia.

“A pro-life state allowing private parties to sue abortion providers could be thwarted by a pro-choice state that allows those private parties to countersue. And the pro-choice states could block out-of-state attempts to investigate or extradite their abortion providers,” he said.

Many states have already taken action to become abortion sanctuaries, Forys said, noting that California is considering amending its state constitution to guarantee a legal right abortion.