SOCI 255 Chapter Notes - Chapter reading: Maurice Vellacott, Rod Bruinooge, Ken Epp
Document Summary
The foundation of our democratic politics is speech. In north america, we have spent many years talking about the issue of abortion. In the us, it remains a contested issue with more than 29 of 50 governors in office at the beginning of 2011 were anti-abortion and in the first 8 months of that year, 61 anti-abortion laws were enacted. The prime minister of canada said that he would not reopen the abortion debate even with a majority government. In 1991, bill c-43 (a bill re-criminalizing abortion except in cases to save a woman"s life or health) was only narrowly defeated by a tie vote in the senate after it had been passed in parliament. Since 1988 there have been at least 43 private member bills introduced in the house of commons with anti-abortion implications. The author of the article has not been able to find a single comprehensive study focusing on the contemporary canadian anti-abortion movement and its discourse.
