The Safe Access to Abortion Services Act (or Bill 8) was given a final reading in the Manitoba Legislature in early June 2024. Once it is proclaimed into law, Bill 8 will prohibit a variety of different conduct within designated "safe zones" created around locations where abortion services are provided and the personal residences of abortion providers.
Significantly, Bill 8 gives anyone who experiences a loss or injury because of another person's breach of Bill 8 the right to bring a claim for damages in the Manitoba Court of King's Bench. In addition to a civil cause of action, Bill 8 makes it a criminal offence to contravene Bill 8 and permits the Manitoba Court of King's Bench to grant an order for an injunction to restrain a person from contravening Bill 8.
Some of the conduct that would breach Bill 8 include, among other things:
- advising or persuading someone to not access abortion services;
- for the purpose of dissuading access to abortion services, repeatedly observing the clinic or facility or those who are entering or leaving the clinic or facility;
- persistently requesting that a provider of abortion services refrain from providing or assisting in providing abortion services; and
- informing a person about issues related to abortion services by any means, including graphic means.
This is just a sample of the conduct prohibited in Bill 8. Overall, it appears to us that Bill 8 gives those providing and accessing abortion services the ability to recover their losses in Court in circumstances that might not fit within any existing cause of action known at law.
The protection provided by Bill 8 will come as a relief not only to patients accessing abortion services but also to healthcare workers who are involved in the provision of abortion services. Violence against abortion service providers has, and continues to be, a looming fear. In 1997 in Winnipeg, Dr. Jack Fainman, a physician who performed abortion services, was shot through the window of his home causing an injury that ended his career.
Bill 8 makes Manitoba the 7th province in Canada to enact access or "bubble" zones for abortion services. British Columbia was the first province to do so in 1995, but was subject to a constitutional challenge, delaying enactment of similar legislation in other provinces. British Columbia's legislation was upheld by the BC Court of Appeal in 2008, and legislation
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