For Immediate Release

OTTAWA, ON— A new poll has found that a majority of Canadians would be more likely to vote for a political party that promised to restrict the practice of sex-selection abortion in Canada. Today, Cathay Wagantall, Member of Parliament for Yorkton—Melville, echoed the results of the survey and urged Members of Parliament to support her private member’s bill, C-233: the Sex Selective Abortion Act.

“When it comes to the issue of sex-selective abortion, Canadians are more united against it than the media and some politicians would like you to believe,” said Wagantall.

One Persuades, a national high-stakes strategy firm, polled over 1,000 Canadians in September 2020 using a national representative sample. The survey was conducted in English and French, with results weighted by region, age, gender, first language, and vote in the 2019 federal election. The survey question read:

“According to the Canadian Medical Association Journal, the practice of sex-selective abortion (where female fetuses are aborted for the primary reason that they are female and not male) occurs in Canada today, yet no law exists to restrict this practice. Would you be more likely to vote for a political party that promised to legally restrict sex-selective abortion in Canada?”

Among the results, it was found that 52% of Canadians would be more likely to vote for a political party that promised to legally restrict sex-selective abortion. Of those who responded, 56% of those with a post-graduate degree would be more likely to support a party with such a policy. In addition, 51% of those who voted Liberal in 2019, and 61% of those who voted for the Bloc Québécois, are ‘moderately’ to ‘much more’ likely to cast their vote for a party committed to curbing the practice of sex-selective abortion.

“Canadians are united on the need to set reasonable boundaries on abortion that reflect Canadian values at home and around the world,” added Wagantall. “Political parties have an opportunity to appeal to a broader range of concerned Canadians.”

Wagantall hopes that the results of the poll will encourage those who previously avoided the issue of sex-selective abortion — for fear of political backlash — to reconsider bill C-233. Focused entirely on sex-selection, the legislation would prohibit a medical practitioner from performing an abortion on those grounds.

“As legislators, we have the responsibility to respond to the values Canadians want our country to reflect. Bill C-233 strikes the right balance between its narrow focus and the need to address an inequality between the sexes from the earliest stages of life.”

To read the results of the One Persuades poll, click here.

To learn more about bill C-233, visit www.cathaywagantall.ca/c233.

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For more information, please contact:

Office of Cathay Wagantall, MP
(613) 992-4395
[email protected]