I've often come across the presumption that Stephen Harper is against legalized abortion and has a hidden agenda in regards to this issue. I've seen this assumption spread by both poor-choicers and (naive!) pro-lifers.
I've been reading Stephen Harper: The Case for Collaborative Government by Christian journalist Lloyd Mackey. One passage addresses this question. It is an excerpt of an interview between Harper and Kevin Michael Grace, a senior editor at the Alberta Report. The interview was published in March of 2002 in the Montreal Gazette. Here is one revelatory quote from Mr. Harper:
I was the founding policy officer of the Reform party, and I thought we had some of the right formulae there. I think that very sensitive and clearly religious-denominational moral issues should not be issues of party policy, and the leader should be careful not to make his views the central issue. I think those issues should be left to free vote in the Commons. I think they should come up at the initiation of private members, and I think we can look at the citizenry raising them in a democratic process. But I've been clear in this campaign: I don't believe the party should have a position on abortion or that the leader should have an agenda on abortion. I don't believe an Alliance government should sponsor legislation on abortion or a referendum on abortion. Even in a conservative party, there are going to be wide differences of opinion on a question like that.
More evidence Stephen Harper is not a fetal rights advocate.
I hope people get the message.
_________________________
Visit Opinions Canada
a political blogs aggregator
_________________________
