Canada will allow American women to cross the US border to receive safe abortions following the Supreme Court’s overruling of Roe v Wade.
The Huffington Post reports that Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau slammed the court’s recent 'horrific' decision while expressing his concern that more rights could be taken away.
He said during a press conference in Rwanda: “We know that this is an extremely, not just scary, but disheartening time for so many women.
“Women for generations have fought for more rights in the United States, [only] to see this setback, to worry as well about how this can be expanded to more rights be taken away in the United States.”
The Canadian leader also said that due to the overruling, people need to stay ‘vigilant’.
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He said: “This is a reminder of how we need to be unequivocal in our defence of people’s rights, in not taking anything for granted, in staying vigilant, and always standing up for woman’s rights, for LBGT rights, for the rights of people who are disenfranchised and marginalised.”
Prime Minister Trudeau added that women in the US could access Canada's healthcare system, helping them to receive abortions if they could not do so in their state.
“We have a commitment in Canada to ensure, first of all, that every woman has full, safe legal access to the full suite of sexual health and reproductive services, including safe and legal abortions and we’ve been working hard to increase access to women across the country,” he said.
Deputy Prime Minister Chrystia Freeland also panned the court’s decision, saying that she was ‘horrified’ when the news broke, according to CBC.
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She added that many brave women fought in the US to gain nationwide abortion rights, and she will do whatever she can to preserve those rights in Canada.
"I want all Canadian women and girls to hear from me that the right to choice, their right to an abortion is a fundamental right. We will not let that right be undermined in any way here in our country," she said.
The Guttmacher Institute reports that 26 states are already looking to ban abortion following the Supreme Court ruling.
Thirteen states, including Texas, Louisiana and Mississippi, have already passed ‘trigger laws’ to criminalise abortion that automatically went into effect following the overruling over the weekend.
Charisa Bossinakis