The Runaway Supreme Court
1892, Canadian Parliament legislated that abortion was criminal under section 251 of the criminal code. This legislation held until 1969. In 1969 Parliament under Pierre Trudeau amended the criminal code, section 287 and section 237. The amendment allowed abortion up to twelve weeks gestation, and removed the criminal sanctions on the doctor and woman acquiring the abortion. The effect was that hospitals could perform abortions with the approval of a ‘therapeutic abortion committee’, a specified group of doctors who would decide if the circumstances were reasonable for an abortion. The 1969 ruling turned abortion into a medical issue instead of a judicial one. Regardless of the legalization of abortion with permission, Emily Stowe , the second woman to practice medicine in Canada was put on trial for giving abortion medication to a young patient. The trial was widely publicized in order to make a point. Abortions were not acceptable. Feminists now claim Emily as a persecuted hero