In 1969, the Canadian government passed the Criminal Law Amendment Act which

decriminalized abortion under specific circumstances. The law allowed legal abortions only if a

committee of three doctors found that the mother’s health was at risk and if the doctor performed

the abortion in an accredited hospital. However, over the next two decades Canadian women

faced many obstacles in obtaining legal abortions until, in 1988, the Supreme Court of Canada’s

decision in R v. Morgentaler found the law to be unconstitutional. This major research paper

focuses on the work of the Canadian Association for the Repeal of the Abortion Law (CARAL,

later the Canadian Abortion Rights Action League), founded in 1974, which was the only

national organization focused on the decriminalization of abortion. CARAL had both a national

office and regional and provincial chapters across Canada. Through an examination of CARAL’s

archival material and select Canadian newspapers, this analysis charts the involvement of

CARAL chapters in national and regional activism. CARAL chapters were instrumental to the

success of national campaigns, while also engaging in grassroots activism tailored to their

provincial and regional circumstances.

Advisor: Matthew Hayday

Committee: Catherine Carstairs