Trudeau Liberals want pregnancy counseling centers to reveal if they provide abortions

In a bid to strip the charitable status of some pro-life groups, the Trudeau government wants to introduce legislation that would force charities that offer pregnancy counseling to also reveal whether they offer abortion, birth control or referral to either of these options. Finance Minister and Deputy Prime Minister Chrystia Freeland revealed the strategy Tuesday at a news conference in Ottawa.

Freeland acknowledged that her government is trying to sideline pro-life groups that encourage women not to have abortions as a means of birth control and to remove any tax-exempt status from charitable organizations.

"We're introducing this legislation to ensure that women who are seeking information about their health care options are not misled, and we're doing this to ensure that those who mislead Canadian women are not rewarded with subsidies from Canadian taxpayers," Freeland told reporters.

The Trudeau government frequently uses the issue of abortion to try to divide the Official Opposition Conservatives, who have several high-profile pro-life MPs in their caucus, even though their leader, Pierre Poilievere, has promised to do nothing to challenge the status quo of abortion access in Canada, which is available on demand and without restrictions at any hospital or clinic in the country. The Liberals often depict abortion as a fundamental Canadian right.

For the legislation to pass, the Liberals can count on the support of the socialist New Democratic Party (NDP) that is also strongly in favor of abortion access. NDP leader Jagmeet Singh is preparing an Opposition Day motion in the House of Commons that would ask for all-party support to expand abortion access in Canada.

Singh said Conservative MPs have tried to promote “anti-choice” legislation through the backdoor while he accuses the Liberals of not paying enough attention to abortion access. Singh recently announced the end of a deal he had struck with Prime Minister Justin Trudeau to prop up his government when voting on government bills.

Trudeau continues to wrestle with at least two dozen members of his caucus who presented him with a petition asking for his resignation last Wednesday. Trudeau rejected their demands and said he will lead his party into the next federal election, which will occur by October 2025 but which could occur anytime a sufficient number of MPs vote against his minority government in a non-confidence motion.