The federal government is stripping seven outdated sections from Canada's Criminal Code, including a provision banning abortion that was struck down nearly 30 years ago. "If we are going to make a link to the abortion discussion or removing the abortion provision from the Criminal Code, our government without equivocation recognizes and acknowledges the constitutional rights of women and is taking the courageous step to ensure that we remove this section from the Criminal Code," she said. While that use of an outdated law was in a tragic, high-profile case, Wilson-Raybould said mistaken uses of the law are not common. Stephen Coughlan, a professor at the Schulich School of Law at Dalhousie University in Halifax who has carried out extensive review of the Criminal Code, said a broader overhaul is required. "There is much more that could and should be done to modernize the Criminal Code, and so although this was individually worth doing, we should hope and expect that more ambitious reforms will follow."

Source: CBC News March 08, 2017 22:41 UTC