QUEBEC, Aug. 4 (LifeSiteNews.com) – A Quebec psychiatric patient was subjected to a forced abortion after a provincial Superior Court judge approved the hospital’s request for the abortion. In a move reminiscent of Canada’s scandalous eugenic sterilization campaigns in earlier decades, she was also sterilized – given a tubal ligation – without consent. The short CBC online report on the story – apparently the only national coverage given to the incident – said nothing about how the woman became pregnant in the first place or what the hospital’s policy was on sexual activity by patients. This was the second time the woman had become pregnant in the past year (she miscarried the first time, reported CBC).
She has been a ward of the province since 1994, having been diagnosed as a paranoid schizophrenic who is unable to take care of herself. Apparently Mr. Justice Paul Vezina liked the argument from the hospital’s lawyer that it would have been more stressful for the woman to give birth and have her baby taken away, than to have baby killed and to undergo a forced sterilization procedure. Interestingly, the CBC report did not name the psychiatric hospital involved, nor did it give the name of the patient. LifeSite News is continuing to investigate this incident. Any leads from the public would be welcomed.