In Canada, where abortion remains legal at any stage of pregnancy without restrictions, healthy babies are routinely killed in the third trimester for reasons as simple as changing one’s mind about parenthood.
That’s according to undercover investigations and abortion clinic admissions revealed in recent years.
A 2023 undercover operation by pro-life advocate Alissa Golob, co-founder of the group RightNow, exposed what she described as a stark contradiction to claims that late-term abortions are reserved for dire medical emergencies. Posing as a pregnant woman seeking to end her third-trimester pregnancy, Golob visited abortion clinics in Montreal, Toronto, Calgary and Vancouver.
The resulting videos, edited from hour-long conversations, captured staff discussing options without requiring proof of fetal or maternal health risks.
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“You can tell the clinics anything, and they will accept it as a valid reason to abort a third-trimester, viable baby,” Golob said in reflections on the investigation.
She used what she called “softball excuses” and was repeatedly told no medical justification was needed for referrals.
At a Toronto clinic, a staffer explained the lack of gestational limits under Canadian law.
“The law in Canada and the U.S. overall doesn’t have a ‘too far,’” the staffer said. “Once things reach 35, 36 weeks, it might be impossible to find someone that would do it, OK? Twenty-four, up to 30 weeks, it’s very possible. The system certainly doesn’t think it’s too far.”
The abortion center staffer added, “No, absolutely not” when asked if proof of health risks was required, noting that the referring hospital “has the ability to take the fetus out and to complete the abortion well beyond 24 weeks. They just do it a little bit differently in that case.”
In Vancouver, a clinic social worker echoed the sentiment.
“But there doesn’t have to be a reason. It could just be, ‘I don’t want to be pregnant,’” the social worker said.
These accounts align with data from the Canadian Institute for Health Information, which reported that in 2020, 4.4% of induced abortions — or 652 procedures — occurred after 21 weeks’ gestation among hospitals outside Quebec that provided gestational age information. While most abortions in Canada happen before 12 weeks, later-term procedures, defined by the Abortion Rights Coalition of Canada as after 20 weeks, persist without legal barriers.
