It is scaremongering pure and simple.

The claim that the Canadian Conservative Party will make abortion illegal in Canada lacks substantial evidence and ignores the party’s historical and current stance on the issue. While some individuals within the party may hold personal anti-abortion views, the Conservative Party as a whole has not included banning abortion in its official platform. For instance, during recent leadership races and party conventions, the Conservatives have consistently avoided committing to reopening the abortion debate. Leaders like Andrew Scheer and Erin O’Toole explicitly stated that their governments would not legislate on abortion, emphasizing that the issue remains settled since the 1988 Supreme Court decision in R v. Morgentaler, which struck down Canada’s abortion law as unconstitutional. The party’s 2021 election platform made no mention of restricting abortion access, focusing instead on economic recovery, healthcare funding, and other priorities.

Additionally, the legal and political landscape in Canada makes it highly unlikely for any party to successfully ban abortion. The Morgentaler decision established that restricting abortion violated women’s Charter rights to security of the person, and subsequent attempts to introduce restrictive legislation have failed. Even if a Conservative government wanted to revisit the issue, it would face significant hurdles: introducing new abortion laws would require a parliamentary majority willing to vote for such a measure, surviving inevitable Charter challenges in the courts, and overcoming fierce public and political opposition. Abortion access enjoys broad public support in Canada—polls consistently show a majority of Canadians favor maintaining or expanding access. The Conservative Party, aware of these dynamics, has little incentive to pursue a policy that would alienate voters and risk electoral backlash, especially in a country where coalition-building and centrism often define electoral success.

Finally, the narrative that the Conservatives will ban abortion often stems from fear-mongering or misrepresentation of individual MPs’ views as party policy. While some backbench MPs have introduced private member’s bills on issues tangentially related to abortion—like Bill C-225 in 2016, which aimed to recognize fetuses as victims of crime—these bills rarely gain traction and are not reflective of party priorities. The Conservative Party operates on a “big tent” philosophy, accommodating a spectrum of views but not endorsing fringe positions as official policy. Current leader Pierre Poilievre has also dodged committing to anti-abortion policies, focusing instead on populist economic messaging. Without a clear mandate or unified party push, claims of an impending abortion ban remain speculative at best, ignoring both the party’s strategic pragmatism and the broader Canadian context that protects reproductive rights.