Liberals are hoping to pin down Prime Minister Stephen Harper over where he stands on abortion in his G8 maternal-health initiative for the Third World.
The Opposition is to introduce a motion in the House of Commons on Tuesday demanding that the plan cover a “full range” of family-planning options, which would include contraception and abortion.
The text of the motion:
March 19, 2010 — Mr. Rae (Toronto Centre) — That, in the opinion of the House, the government’s G8 maternal and child health initiative for the world’s poorest regions must include the full range of family planning, sexual and reproductive health options, including contraception, consistent with the policy of previous Liberal and Conservative governments, and all other G8 governments last year in L’Aquila, Italy;
that the approach of the Government of Canada must be based on scientific evidence, which proves that education and family planning can prevent as many as one in every three maternal deaths; and
that the Canadian government should refrain from advancing the failed right-wing ideologies previously imposed by the George W. Bush administration in the United States, which made humanitarian assistance conditional upon a “global gag rule” that required all non-governmental organizations receiving federal funding to refrain from promoting medically-sound family planning.
The "full range" of options includes abortion.
I feel like the Liberals are completely disconnected from the average voter. Do you think they're crying out for the parties to have this debate? I wish we could go to election on this. What a ballot box question: Do you want to pay for abortions in the Third World? Canadians don't want to pay for abortions in this country. I can't imagine they would want to fund it in Third World countries, especially in places where such interventionism would be unwelcome.
I hope someone does a poll on this.
