Folk singer, Ani Difranco said it best in her song Amendment: “If you don’t like abortion then don’t have an abortion. And teach your children how they can avoid them, but don’t treat all women like they are your children.”
In the latest sneaky and underhanded move of our dear leader, MPs debated on Friday about Bill M312, a conservative motion that the Canadian Medical Association, representing 70,000 doctors, is calling a
backdoor attempt to criminalize abortion.
Way back in 1988, the Supreme Court of Canada ruled the abortion provision of the Criminal Code was unconstitutional, this week the feds will be deciding on a motion that threatens every woman and the rights they have over their wombs.
Harper has let this motion continue through the ranks of government, all the way to a free vote in Parliament. Every MP will be tasked with deciding whether they will stand up for the reproductive rights of women.
24 years ago, Supreme Court Justice Wilson said that governments who enjoy democracy should not interfere with a woman’s right to choose.
“The decision whether or not to terminate a pregnancy is essentially a moral decision and in a free and democratic society the conscience of the individual must be paramount to that of the state.”
Here is where the deception is: It’s a bill wrapped in sheep’s clothing.
The motion seeks to undermine the Supreme Court’s ruling by reopening the debate on the legal definition of a human being under the Criminal Code.
The higher-ups in Harper’s circle of deceit have stated the real goal of the bill is to attack women’s right to choose.
Conservative MP Stephen Woodworth tabled his motion the spring. The motion seeks to create a House of Commons committee to review the Criminal Code section that declares a child becomes a human being “when it has completely proceeded, in a living state, from the body of its mother.”
The issue is that if a fetus is given rights, then that would remove the rights of the woman.
It’s a contradiction to what Harper has said from the beginning, as he said continually said that his government will not bring forward abortion legislation.
It’s not even about whether or not people believe or agree with abortion, it’s about whether people believe that women should retain their full and complete rights.
Compared to some of the hate-filled things we are hearing during the presidential debates south of the border, Canada is looking more and more progressive. We allow gay marriage, health care, and give students a good education.
So why is the government attempting to mar our own good image by being so backwards?
People will say this is a feminist rant, which couldn’t be further from the truth, although when it comes to making decisions that affect women, maybe everyone could stand a little feminism.
Ignorance is a tough nut to crack.
Ani continues: “Compassion has many faces, many names/and if men can kill/and be decorated instead of blamed/then a woman called upon to mother/ can choose to refrain.”
Women in this country have the right to choose legally, but it still still restricted. It is within a province’s purview to manage the access to medical services and Canada has seen a steady decline. A survey done by Canadians for Choice showed that 15.9 per cent of hospitals in Canada offered abortion procedures. Prince Edward Island doesn’t have one clinic a woman can go to, and they haven’t since 1982.
When will Canada finally accept the fact that what women do with their bodies has nothing to do with them. It’s archaic thinking. Other than his wife, women stay out of Harper’s bedroom, so why won’t Canadian women’s uterus’ be left alone.
-- Associate news editor Ashley MacDonald
