Despite its refusal to consider abortion in its maternal-health plan, the Harper government has given financial support to an international agency that provides abortion illegally in some African countries.
It's a very coy article and one wonders what the point of it is.
In a related story, the Ottawa Citizen claims that Bev Oda has seen the light on family planning.
Fresh from a fact-finding trip to Mali and Mozambique, Stephen Harper's minister in charge of delivering the federal government's $1.1-billion commitment to improving maternal and child health, is singing a different tune, and it is one that includes funding for family planning and even indirect support for abortion, if Canada is asked.
International Co-operation Minister Bev Oda seems to have returned from Africa with a more nuanced vision of how Canada can help reduce hundreds of thousands of maternal deaths every year than the one originally offered by her government.
Here we go with the nuancy shit again.
Asked if you could improve maternal mortality rates without family planning, Oda, during a telephone interview, replied: "Of course not."
She said she has always understood the importance of family planning to reducing maternal mortality, adding that it was a topic of much discussion during her trip in meetings with government officials, health officials, and NGOs in small villages.
Oda said the governments of Mozambique and Mali are both highly supportive of family planning, including abortion in some cases, and they like working with Canada, because it is considered very flexible. "We are not seen as having stipulated certain paradigms ... or having any particular direction. We say 'How can we help? What is the most effective way?'"
Oda said the controversy around Canada's G8 initiative and abortion was largely limited to Canada and is not an issue in either Mali or Mozambique.
Abortion is legal in both countries, when a woman's life is considered to be at risk, which, effectively, means that most women don't have access to abortion.
Still, Oda said Canada would support abortion infrastructure if asked. "As long as it is legal within the country and it's a legal procedure ... if we were asked to help in that way, we would do that."
. . .
But it is refreshing to see a minister from a government that began with an ideologically simplistic view of the issue concede something that those working in the field have long understood: "It's very complicated."
Any bets on when Bev will hit the pavement in front of the proverbial bus when the fetus fetishists find out about this?
Uh-oh.
Bev Oda shows her true colours and should be removed as International Co-operation Minister says Campaign Life Coalition.
TORONTO, Sept. 2 /CNW/ - International Co-operation Minister, Bev Oda has returned to Canada from Africa and has again been stating her personal opinions on her blogs regarding family planning and abortion in third world countries.
In a news article Oda stated that abortion is legal in Mozambique and Mali when a women's life is in danger. She said this means most women do not have access to abortion.
"Bev Oda once again shows her preference on "access to abortion" as she did at the time of the G-8 controversy," said Jim Hughes, National President of Campaign Life Coalition (CLC). "Surely the Prime Minister must have known that a Minister as pro-abortion as Oda would attempt to impose her own views within the implementation of the Canadian goals to provide help to women and children in third world countries."
"Bev Oda worked closely with Planned Parenthood and other pro-abortion groups during the G-8 discussions and made pro-abortion statements at that time. She eventually conformed to Party policy regarding maternal health at the last moment," said Mary Ellen Douglas, CLC National Organizer. "It is now very clear that she was merely biding her time."
Campaign Life Coalition calls on Prime Minister Stephen Harper to remove Bev Oda from her position as Minister of International Co-operation since she cannot seem to follow Conservative Party Policy on the international stage.
4 comments:
Could this have been done with the prior knowledge of the PMO? Might it be a gambit to display something other than 'tight control'?
It will be interesting to see how this plays out.
not just abortions, but illegal ones. :)
that funding will be pulled pretty damn quick, I think. Most likely sloppiness on the part of the CONs leading to an oversight. Stupidity screws them up every time.
Then I would think that every member of the CLC would ask that all those who supported the G8 initiative on maternity health care be removed from their posts. After all, providing federal funding for maternal health care doesn't follow the Conservative Party Policy on the international stage, either. For one, continuing a pregnancy is FAR more expensive. For another, I thought the Conservatives were all about 'smaller government', which the CLC seems to agree with. Hypocrisy much?
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