But recent media coverage of the release of the documents — and the unsuccessful bid in 1991 to legislate abortion — fails to show that the Bill (C-43) was opposed by the political arm of the pro-life movement and, in fact, they lobbied to defeat it, said Campaign Life Coalition (CLC) president Jim Hughes. News reports have framed pro-lifers as being in support of the bill, which died in the Senate.

That was the last attempt by Parliament to frame abortion legislation and Canada has been without abortion laws ever since.

While pro-abortion forces cheered the defeat of the bill, so too did many — but not all — pro-life activists. The Canadian Conference of Catholic Bishops, for example, supported the bill because it kept abortion in the Criminal Code and avoided a gestational approach.

“We all agreed that abortion was horrible and unacceptable,” Hughes said. “It was a matter of tactics.”

Bill C-43 would have made abortion a criminal offence at any stage of pregnancy unless a doctor deemed a woman’s life or health was endangered. The bill was deemed a compromise that avoided the pitfalls of a gestational approach and met concern that a bill with too many restrictions risked being struck down by the Supreme Court.

But Hughes said the bill’s concern for the life and health of the mother included such things as her “aspiration for the future” and economic considerations. Abortionist Henry Morgentaler told Huges the law would not stop a single abortion. “I said, ‘I know,’ “

“C-43 was basically abortion-on-demand,” he said. But for the pro-abortion side that “wasn’t enough.”

Hughes said the law was designed to protect doctors. “You could have an abortion for any reason whatsoever,” he said, noting the then Justice Minister assured doctors none would be prosecuted under the bill.”