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Bill that would outlaw sex-selective abortion in Canada receives second reading

A Private Members Bill proposed in the Canadian Parliament that would outlaw sex-selective abortion, has received its second reading. An e-petition signed by over 10,000 Canadians in support of the Bill has also been tabled in the Canadian House of Commons.

Bill C-233, which has been brought forward by Conservative Member of Parliament Cathay Wagantall, would make it a criminal offence to perform an abortion in the knowledge that it is sought on the grounds of the child’s biological sex. Conservative Leader Erin O’Toole has stated he will not support the bill put forward by his fellow party member. 

A “haven” for sex-selective abortion

Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau stated: “While the leader of the Opposition is allowing an anti-abortion bill to be introduced, our government has, and always will, defend women’s reproductive choice in Canada”.

A 2012 report from the Canadian Medical Association Journal called Canada a “haven” for sex-selective abortion.

It found that: “Easy access to abortion and advances in prenatal sex determination have combined to make Canada a haven for parents who would terminate female fetuses in favour of having sons, despite overwhelming censure of the practice, economists and bioethics experts say”.

Standing against gender inequality

Tabitha Ewert, the legal counsel for the grassroots campaign We Need a Law wrote: “While we may differ on our stance toward abortion, we should still be able to stand side-by-side against sex-selective abortion, as we all have an interest in standing against gender inequality”.

Regarding her bill, Wagantall said: “The truth of the matter is if we’re really concerned about equality between men and women, and human rights – which [in] Canada we say this is a very high priority for us – then we can’t say that we value at this point but not the other”.

In an opinion piece published ahead of April’s debate, she wrote: “Sex-selective abortion is wrong, but it happens in Canada because we have no law against it. We are the only democratic country in the world to lack a sex-selection law. In fact, our only bedfellow in this regard is North Korea. That is why I introduced Bill C-233 in February of last year”.

A similarly-worded Bill was proposed to the Canadian Parliament in 2012 by the late Mark Warawa MP but was rejected

Right To Life UK Spokesperson, Catherine Robinson, said: “The progress of Bill C-233 is welcome news. It is shocking that in such a self-professed progressive nation as Canada, abortion on the basis of sex is legally permitted. It is equally disappointing that both PM Trudeau and the Leader of the Opposition have outright refused to support the Bill because of their pro-abortion views”.
“Their views are way out of line with where the Canadian public are with this issue, with  polling showing that 84 per cent of the general public oppose abortions due to an unborn child’s sex”.

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Help stop three major anti-life threats.

Help stop three major anti-life threats.

Dear reader,

Thanks to the hard work and dedication of people like you across the UK, the McArthur assisted suicide Bill in Scotland was defeated in March by 69 votes to 57.

Then, in April, the Leadbeater assisted suicide Bill fell in the House of Lords.

Many commentators thought both Bills would become law.

If that had happened, governments in England, Scotland and Wales would now be preparing to roll out assisted suicide services.

Over the coming decades, this would have led to the deaths of many thousands of vulnerable people.

But that is not what happened.

Because supporters like you acted, those Bills were stopped.

Because of you, many vulnerable lives have been saved.

These were two very significant victories. But sadly, they are not the last battles we face this year.

The new Parliamentary session began on Wednesday. We now face three major threats.

  1. Attempts to bring back the Leadbeater assisted suicide Bill and bypass the House of Lords

    The assisted suicide lobby, led by Dignity in Dying, a multi-million-pound pressure group, has made it clear that it is going to attempt to bring back the Leadbeater assisted suicide Bill in the next parliamentary session.

    It then plans to use the Parliament Acts to bypass the House of Lords and force the Bill into law.

  2. Labour Government plans for a major expansion of abortion provision, including financial incentives for ‘lunch-hour’ abortions

    Under these plans, the Government would financially incentivise major abortion providers, BPAS and MSI Reproductive Choices, to provide ‘lunch-hour’ or ‘same-day’ abortions.

    ‘Lunch-hour’ abortion services are walk-in abortion services designed to fit into a woman’s lunch hour.

    Women facing an unplanned pregnancy need time, care and support, not a system that gives abortion clinics a financial incentive to rush them through consultations, scans and abortions on the same day.

    If these plans go ahead, many more lives are likely to be ended by abortion here in the UK.

  3. Extreme abortion up to birth proposals in Scotland

    In Scotland, plans are moving forward to introduce an extreme abortion up to birth law. This would go far beyond the abortion law change recently backed by the Lords for England and Wales.

    A review of abortion law in Scotland, commissioned by Humza Yousaf when he was Scottish First Minister, recommended that the Scottish Government scrap the current 24-week time limit – and abortion be available on social grounds, including for sex-selective purposes, right up to birth.

    The final plans are expected to be brought forward as a Government Bill in the new Scottish Parliament, which begins this Thursday.

If these three major threats succeed, thousands of vulnerable lives will be lost.

We cannot allow this to happen.

We can only defeat these three major threats with your help.

We ran our biggest campaigns ever to help defeat the assisted suicide Bills at Westminster and in Scotland.

That work has made a serious dent in our limited resources.

To cover this gap and ensure we can effectively defeat these three major threats in the coming months, we are aiming to raise at least £199,250 by midnight this Sunday (17 May 2026).

We are, therefore, appealing to you to please give as generously as you can.

Every donation, large or small, will make a crucial difference in saving the lives of the unborn and many others. Plus, if you are a UK taxpayer, £1 becomes £1.25 with Gift Aid at no extra cost to you.

By stopping these threats, YOU can save lives during this new Parliamentary session.

Will you donate now to help protect vulnerable lives from these three major threats?

EMERGENCY
APPEAL
to SAVE
lives

Help stop three major anti-life threats.

Help stop three major anti-life threats.