“Yeah, I want it to be made illegal. Let’s start with the basics; let’s start with having some law where, after a certain period of time, it’s illegal to have an abortion in Canada, that isn’t even there now. Let’s start with the very basics whereby [we] condemn female infanticide or gender-selective abortion,” said Conservative MP Leon Benoit (Vegreville-Wainwright, Alta.) in an interview last week with The Hill Times. “Let’s deal with that issue and condemn it, have Parliament condemn it.”
On May 9, the annual national March for Life anti-abortion rally took place on Parliament Hill and drew an estimated 10,000 to 12,000 people, according to the RCMP, including more than 20 Conservative MPs. Prime Minister Stephen Harper (Calgary Southwest, Alta.) has for years campaigned on a promise that his government will not reopen the abortion debate because Canadians don’t want to.
The question of free speech and abortion kicked off, however, when Conservative MP Mark Warawa (Langley, B.C.) raised a question of privilege in the House of Commons on March 26 because he said he felt his privilege as an MP had been infringed when his MP’s statement related to the issue of abortion, to be delivered during the 15-minute MPs’ Statement period before Question Period, was yanked off the party’s speaking order on March 20. A dozen Conservative MPs subsequently rose in the House to voice concern over Parliamentary privileges being infringed, with many specifically addressing their rights to speak out on the issue of abortion.
In Canada, abortion was illegal under the Criminal Code until 1969, when Parliament passed a law to allow abortions in certain circumstances to protect the mother’s health. In 1988 the Supreme Court delivered a landmark case in R. v. Morgentaler striking down Sec. 251 of the Criminal Code on the grounds that it infringed upon multiple sections of the Charter of Rights and Freedoms. Since then, no attempts to federally legislate abortion have been passed by Parliament.
As health care falls under provincial jurisdiction, regulation over abortion, including maximum gestation period, which can range from 10 to 20 weeks according to the Abortion Rights Coalition of Canada, differs by province.
“If we can go for 25 years without a law, obviously we don’t need one,” said Joyce Arthur, executive director of the Abortion Rights Coalition of Canada.
Mr. Benoit said he’s continuing to speak out despite the PMO’s stance because he said while he respects that Mr. Harper promised that the government wouldn’t deal with the issue of abortion, he said individual MPs “certainly should be free to discuss any issue.” Mr. Benoit said the issue of abortion is an issue of equality. He said the issue is important to him and he said he has “a lot of pro-life constituents” in his riding, as well as pro-choice constituents.
Ms. Arthur said Mr. Benoit’s line of argument that abortion is an equality issue is “turning back the clock 20, 30 years,” and is “religious ideology” that is a “minority, extreme viewpoint,” that is “totally out of sync with Canadian international human rights codes, our laws and our Charter and legal jurisprudence.”
“Women have established equality rights, and it’s already been decided by the courts in several court decisions that fetuses do not have rights, only women have rights. You can’t give fetuses rights unless you take away women’s rights. If a fetus has rights, women don’t, and it’s that simple. You can’t even balance rights because any kind of balancing of rights would compromise women’s rights, because you’re talking about an entity living inside the body of another human being,” said Ms. Arthur.
Tim Powers, vice-president of communications at Summa Strategies, said as long as the Prime Minister’s position “remains consistent” on the issue of abortion, he doesn’t think it will be a “problem” for the party, noting the MPs speaking out about abortion understand they were elected “under Stephen Harper’s ticket.”
At the May 9 March for Life rally, Conservative MP Rob Anders (Calgary West, Alta.) encouraged more anti-abortion activists to seek nomination to run as Conservative candidates in the next election.
“I’d love to see more pro-life candidates in our party and more pro-life MPs in our party. That increases the probability that we’re actually going to do something about the void, the fact that we have no legislation about abortion,” said Mr. Benoit.
In an email to The Hill Times, Keith Beardsley, a former Conservative staffer and now a consultant at True North Public Affairs, said Mr. Anders’ suggestion “is not a problem for Harper at this point,” and pointed out that the nomination of candidates “is a responsibility of the party apparatus.”
Mr. Benoit said “more than half” of the Conservative caucus is pro-life. Mr. Benoit said while his faith is “very important to him” he said he’s not evangelical, but instead a “quiet Christian.”
A January poll conducted by Angus Reid Public Opinion found that in terms of regulating abortion in Canada, 35 per cent of respondents said they support the status quo—that is, no law—five per cent said abortion should be “forbidden” in any circumstance, six per cent said they were unsure, and the remaining 54 per cent of respondents said they would prefer some sort of regulation such as only in the case of rape, only in the first three months, or only if the health of the mother is in danger.
In response to a question about personal feelings over abortion, 44 per cent of respondents said abortion should be legal “in all cases,” 23 per cent said it should be subject to greater restrictions, 18 per cent said only in the case of rape, incest or risk to the woman’s life, four per cent said only in the case of risk to the woman’s life, five per cent said abortion should never be allowed, and six per cent said they were unsure.
Based on the poll, Mario Canseco, vice-president of communications and media relations at Angus Reid, said that many people aren’t aware that there are no laws around abortion in Canada and that the majority would like “to see some sort of caveat” on it.
“I don’t think you can look at the numbers and say as some pro-lifers have said that everybody wants something different [than status quo], but also can’t say as most pro-choicers would make you believe, that no one wants to talk about it,” he said.
Ms. Arthur said she does “not really” think there’s an appetite to discuss abortion in Canada, though she said “there’s always minority, anti-choice people who always want to ‘re-open the abortion debate,’ which means passing some regulation.”
In the most recent numbers available from the Canadian Institute for Health Information, in 2011, a total of 92,524 induced abortions were reported in Canada.
Conservative MPs and Senators Who Attended 2013 March for Life Event
Harold Albrecht (Kitchener-Conestoga, Ont.)
Stella Ambler (Mississauga South, Ont.)
Rob Anders (Calgary West, Alta.)
David Anderson (Cypress Hills-Grasslands, Sask.)
Leon Benoit (Vegreville-Wainwright, Sask.)
Kelly Block (Saskatoon-Rosetown-Biggar, Alta.)
Rod Bruinooge (Winnipeg South, Man.)
Dean Del Mastro (Peterborough, Ont.)
Newfoundland and Labrador Sen. Norman Doyle
Ontario Senator Tobias Enverga
Royal Galipeau (Ottawa-Orléans, Ont.)
Ed Komarnicki (Souris-Moose Mountain, Sask.)
Guy Lauzon (Stormont-Dundas-South Glengarry, Ont.)
Wladyslaw Lizon (Mississauga East-Cooksville, Ont.)
James Lunney (Nanaimo-Alberni, B.C.)
LaVar Payne (Medicine Hat, Alta.)
Kyle Seeback (Brampton West, Ont.)
Bev Shipley (Lambton-Kent-Middlesex, Ont.)
Kevin Sorenson (Crowfoot, Alta.)
Lawrence Toet (Elmwood-Transcona, Alta.)
Brad Trost (Saskatoon-Humboldt, Sask.)
Dave Van Kesteren (Chatham-Kent-Essex, Ont.)
Maurice Vellacott (Saskaton-Wanuskewin, Sask.)
Mark Warawa (Langley, B.C.)
Jeff Watson (Essex, Ont.)
John Williamson (New Brunswick Southwest, N.B.)
Stephen Woodworth (Kitchener Centre, Ont.)
Bob Zimmer (Prince George-Peace River, B.C.)
—compiled by Laura Ryckewaert May 17, 2013, based on media reports.
Original Article
Source: hilltimes.com
Author: LAURA RYCKEWAERT
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