Mr. Speaker, I am very pleased to present a petition today signed by 440 individuals who are calling upon the government to pass a Criminal Code prohibition of sex-selective abortion. Their rationale is that sex-selection abortion is legal in Canada as Canada has absolutely no restrictions on abortion. We are the only democratic country that does not. The only other is North Korea.
Sex-selective abortion is antithetical to our commitment to equality between men and women. A 2019 DART & Maru/Blue poll conducted for the National Post showed that 84% of Canadians believed it should be illegal to have an abortion if the family does not want the child to be a certain sex. International organizations such as the World Health Organization, United Nations Women and the United Nations Children's Fund have identified unequal sex ratios at birth as a growing problem internationally. As well, Canada's health care profession recognizes that sex-selection abortion is a problem in Canada.