Yesterday, it had two.
First, a new poll on unrestricted abortion.
Canadian attitudes toward abortion appear to be shifting, according to a new Ipsos poll, as six in ten say abortion should be permitted whenever a woman decides she wants.Here's the graphic from the article:
The Ipsos poll, given exclusively to Global News, found 57 per cent of Canadians endorse a women’s right to choose – up almost 10 points from 2015 and up from 36 per cent from when the question was asked in 1998.
When I tweeted that last night, Mike Schouten of We Need a Law, Any Old Law, Seriously, Give Us an Abortion Law to Fuck Around with as in the US, replied.
@fernhilldammit Likely b/c most Canadians haven't seen what abortion is. #stillworktodo pic.twitter.com/WKsmti6iAR
— Mike Schouten (@mike_schouten) February 24, 2016
Fetus fetishists like him seem NOT to get the message. Back in 2012, as antichoicers were trying to ignite the abortion "debate" yet again, various polls reported that Canadians did not want to reopen the debate, but when actually asked, the majority of us responded to the law of unintended consequences.
The National Post reported: "As debate heats up, Canadian support for unrestricted abortions skyrockets."
So, yes, please, Mike, keep trying to show us what abortion is.
The other story was about the plan by new Health Minister, Jane Philpott, to address abortion access.
Well, it seems, she doesn't have much of a plan beyond "checking" on the provinces.
Also, in the video clip at the link, at least, she can't seem to say the word "abortion."
Bulletin, Madam Minister: the purpose of the Canada Health Act, a federal law, is:
The purpose of this Act is to establish criteria and conditions in respect of insured health services and extended health care services provided under provincial law that must be met before a full cash contribution may be made.
The program criteria is:
In order that a province may qualify for a full cash contribution referred to in section 5 for a fiscal year, the health care insurance plan of the province must, throughout the fiscal year, satisfy the criteria described in sections 8 to 12 respecting the following matters:That's a pretty big stick you've got there, Madame Minister. We'd would like to see the most pro-choice government evah wield it around a bit.
(a) public administration;
(b) comprehensiveness;
(c) universality;
(d) portability; and
(e) accessibility.
2 comments:
A few years back, the CMA put in its own two cents : it would resist attempts by the state to insert itself into the personal medical counseling process.
So glad to see that a strong majority for unrestricted abortion is forming in Canada. I've never been able to understand the rationale for any abortion restrictions.
I noticed that the Swedish people have achieved a virtual consensus that women should have the right to terminate at any time, but it's sad that their laws still prohibit abortion in the third trimester.
This is a problem generally in Europe where, even though strong majorities support total choice in almost every country, restrictions still exist for late term procedures.
In my opinion, one of the major missions of the international pro-choice community in the 21st century must be to fight for the rollback of these outdated and popularly unsupported laws across the European continent -- laws which, by their very existence, imply that women are slaves to fetuses. They're a vestige of a long-past era of mysoginistic backwardsness, and they need to go.
The documentary "After Tiller" contains a real-world example of the impact these laws can have. A woman located in France was so desperate in her search for a third-trimester abortion that she called up a clinic as far away as New Mexico to inquire if they would take her, but was refused because her case was deemed "medically unnecessary."
But, as we see from the polling data, public sentiment is rapidly moving towards support for unrestricted, total choice, so the writing is on the wall. Legislatures need to catch with the will of those they're supposed to serve!
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