Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau plans to address his concerns about the “backsliding” of abortion rights in the U.S. during his meeting with Vice President Pence in Ottawa on Thursday.
“Obviously, I am very concerned with the backsliding of women’s rights we are seeing from conservative movements here in Canada, in the United States and around the world,” Mr. Trudeau, leader of the country’s Liberal Party, told reporters Wednesday afternoon in Ottawa.
“I will have a broad conversation with the vice president, [in] which of course that’ll come up, but we’re going to mostly focus on the ratification process of NAFTA and making sure we get good jobs for Canadians,” he added.
The prime minister’s comments come amid a slew of anti-abortion laws passed in multiple U.S. states, including Alabama where the Republican governor recently signed into law a ban on virtually all abortions and prison time for abortion providers. A handful of other states have outlawed abortions after six or eight weeks of pregnancy.
In Canada, where abortions have been legal since 1988, Conservatives have been accused of wanting to reopen the abortion debate. Conservative Party Leader Andrew Scheer has attempted to quell such fears ahead of the Oct. 21 federal election.
“The only person who is bringing up this issue time and time again is Justin Trudeau,” Mr. Scheer said, CBC News reported. “I’ve made it very, very clear. Canadians can have absolute confidence that a Conservative government after the election in October will not reopen this issue.”
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