{"schema":"abhortion.org/legislation.summary/v1","id":"legality-ca-federal","type":"legislation","level":"federal","jurisdiction":"Canada (federal)","as_of_date":"2026-07-13","research_completed_date":"2026-07-13","headline":"No criminal abortion law since 1988","summary":"Canada has had no enforceable criminal prohibition on abortion since R v Morgentaler struck down Criminal Code s. 251 in 1988, and the remaining abortion-specific offences (ss. 287–288) were formally repealed in 2019.","machine_readable_summary":{"criminal_prohibition_exists":false,"charter_right_status":"procedural_holding_only","abortion_offence_on_books":false,"born_alive_rule":true,"fetal_homicide_law":false,"pregnancy_aggravating_factor":false,"mifegymiso_approved":true,"telehealth_prescribing_allowed":true,"pharmacist_dispensing_allowed":true,"canada_health_act_covers_abortion":"true","cha_penalties_ever_levied":true,"federal_conscience_statute":false,"federal_personhood_law":false,"interprovincial_travel_protected":"yes","major_pending_change":false},"links":{"html":"https://www.abhortion.org/legislation/ca-federal.html","markdown":"https://www.abhortion.org/legislation/ca-federal.md","summary_json":"https://www.abhortion.org/legislation/ca-federal.json","full_json":"https://www.abhortion.org/legislation/ca-federal-full.json","verbose_json":"https://www.abhortion.org/legislation/ca-federal-verbose.json"}}