January, 1988 was a historic time for Canada in regards to abortion. Henry Morgantaler struck down section 251 of the Criminal Code. (Cook & Dickens, 2003). It was found that the law was not equal throughout the country, as some provinces had more of a stern policy, while other provinces granted the procedure on free grounds. .
Abortion Stand Points.
The topic of abortion is one of the most controversial and most often debated issue in our society today. Groups on either side of the debate have persistently deliberated and lobbied either to increase or decrease the accessibility to the procedure. This is a strictly two sided debate arguing ethics, morals, values, and constitutional rights of women. There are those individuals that are for the abortion procedure, or pro-choice, and those who oppose the issue, pro-life. According to Mouw and Sobel (2001), in most major surveys, there is a large portion of people who are indifferent in their views regarding abortion. From these results it was noted that for those that do support abortion, it was based strongly on circumstance of the procedure. Reasons such as rape, incest or otherwise, as well as danger to the mother or child. Out of these reasons, being able to provide necessities for the child was not considered a reason to have an abortion. .
Individuals who are pro-life believe that abortion is murder and that human life begins at conception; that an unborn fetus is an equal human being (Boland & Kazive, 2003). These individuals who fall into the pro-life category consider the development of the human fetus. Pro-life activists believe that because, in their perspective, life begins right at conception, which is the point where the sperm meets with the egg, and attaches to the cervix, which then begins to grow as a human being, that abortion is murder as the fetus is in all actuality a life of its own. Due to this embryo is a separate being from the mother, it is considered equal to a human life.
