Private Member's Bills! Lots of PMBs! One as early as this fall, according to fetus fetishists. She lists the ones they've already tried -- and will try again. Then adds the innovations from the Excited States as possibilities: mandatory ultrasound, parental consent, mandatory counselling from religious Fake Clinics etc.
Next, defunding abortion. There are four gambits, all of which she rates as 'highly likely'.
Four ventures under defunding of reproductive health and rights, some of which -- like the inaction on the Planned Parenthood funding request are already being carried out.
Under Parliament, Senate, Supreme Court, and Legal Measures, there are five 'likely' moves and one unlikely one. Remember, SHithead's appointments could have a huge impact on the Supreme Court for years to come.
Finally, under public policy, she cites funding of research into abortion drugs or technologies, injecting anti-choice restrictions into all kinds of policy areas, and the influence of the as-yet mysterious Office of Religious Freedom.
As we know, the Fucking Useless Opposition® will be of no help to us. We'll have to remain vigilant, make alliances with other groups, pressure MPs who may be Con but not anti-choice.
Here's an interesting analysis of the 2011 vote, exploring where votes moved from and to.
CES [Canadian Election Study] data doesn’t show much evidence of widening and deepening of Conservative support over 2008; for example though they were hoping to improve their standing amongst women, there was still negative gender gap for the Conservative Party in 2011 though not quite as severe as before. In fact it was the NDP which improved its performance with men. The Conservatives also had a significant age gap, falling very behind amongst young people.
We need to let them know that women -- especially young women -- will NOT tolerate even minor infringements of our rights.
4 comments:
Thank you Fern!
Hey, how about that? All of us are the Real Majority AND the Official Opposition now. We just need to figure out how to wield our unprecedented power...
PS - and the Senate appointments are already happening of course, although I don't have info on the abortion stance of Smith and Manning yet (Verner is pro-choice)
Smith and Manning strike me as opportunists so if Harper says jump, they will.
I think we are going to have to position the real majority as being against all anti-women programs and legislation. Call it a buffet approach so that it includes birth control access and education, pay equity, violence against women, missing Aboriginal women, assistance to women (e.g., Status of Women, immigrant services), progressive taxation (none of this income splitting crap), etc.
Hmm. When I titled this, I wasn't thinking beyond a blogpost title. But, BY, we may have something here.
Add in all the men who are ^NOT HarpoCrites and we have a MASSIVE Real Majority.
I too fear this Harper government and its intention towards reproductive rights, but I think some of the points Arthur makes are never going to happen. A national referendum on abortion as highly likely? Has Canada ever had a nation referendum on anything? It's a little fanciful and putting this kind of stuff out there just fuels the flames and feeds the animals.
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