The Liberal party is pushing abortion through committees.
Parliamentary committees are small groups of Members of Parliament formed to examine certain issues more in depth than the House of Commons. They are empowered by the House to perform specific tasks, such as examining bills or studying other matters related to their mandate. Liberal MPs have been attempting to use these committees to put forward motions promoting abortion.
Motion #1:
On May 13, Liberal MP Emmanuella Lambropoulos’ pro-abortion motion was discussed the Standing Committee on the Status of Women. She asked the committee to declare abortion a Charter right and state that abortion is a woman’s choice “and theirs alone.” The motion would have little practical impact, as abortion is already legal at any gestational age and for any reason in Canada. It’s already funded and generally available across this country. It’s not a Charter right, but a motion at a committee cannot change that fact. If this motion passed, it would be included in the committee’s report to House, and possibly become a conversation topic there. After a brief but emotional discussion, this motion was adjourned, meaning the meeting was ended and the discussion held over to a possible future date.
Motion #2:
On May 16, Liberal MP Hedy Fry’s pro-abortion motion was discussed at the Standing Committee on Foreign Affairs and International Development. This motion called for a study on access to abortion internationally and “what actions Canada can take to support women’s sexual and reproductive health and rights globally.” This motion called for five meetings to be allotted to discussing this topic. This motion was suspended, after debate over whether to adjourn it to be picked up in the future.
This is a live situation – Prime Minister Trudeau has indicated that he is interested in introducing legislation to further entrench “abortion rights,” and there may be other motions coming up soon.
We welcome a discussion about abortion
At the Status of Women committee, it was the Conservative MPs who called for the motion to be adjourned until after they finished their current business. Liberal MP Jenna Sudds commented that “hard things are hard,” including the difficulty of discussing abortion.
And it is hard – which is why Parliament should discuss abortion. Decades of avoiding the discussion and ignoring what is being done to a pre-born child does a disservice to Canadians. It obviously does a disservice to the pre-born children who lose their lives to abortion. And it has also put a burden specifically on mothers, who have a choice regarding the fate of the life of their children. That moral choice, and its consequences, fall on women’s shoulders while our society continues on.
We need a government willing to discuss abortion. But we need a government that is willing to go beyond platitudes of “supporting a woman’s right to choose” to acknowledge the other person directly impacted by abortion: the baby in the womb. We need a government that is willing to discuss actual policies relating to abortion. Those policies could include banning late-term abortion or sex selective abortion, or recognizing that a pre-born child can be a victim of a violent crime and that should be recognized in sentencing in our criminal justice system.
Write to your MP and ask them to be ready to discuss abortion
What we’ve seen this week is that abortion is an exceptionally live issue right now and this is an incredible, unexpected opportunity to join and direct the conversation as much as possible. Abortion can be brought up at any committee, and even if those motions don’t impact laws, their goal is to shape the narrative in an increasingly pro-abortion way. Ask your MP to oppose any pro-abortion motions they interact with. Ask them to use it as an opportunity to introduce the pre-born child into the conversation. Ask them to be prepared so that they are ready to participate in the ongoing debate about abortion.
Specifically ask your MP:
- To use the terms “baby in the womb,” “pre-born child,” or “unborn child.” Ask them to identify the victims of abortion by using these terms.
- Ask them to view the discussion of abortion as an opportunity to push forward specific pro-life policies, such as banning late-term abortion or sex-selective abortion.
You can find your MP’s contact information on the Parliamentary website.