Why We Won't Debate (Part Umpty-Three)

Because they lie. They distort. They dissemble. They move goalposts.

And they cheat.

That CBC 'unscientific' poll is running now at about 64% in favour of reopening the abortion debate.

Yeah. Right.

As opposed to a scientific poll from May 2010.

In the lead up to the G-8 and G-20 summits to be held in Muskoka and Toronto, Prime Minister Stephen Harper’s maternal-health plan for under-privileged countries and his refusal to include access and funding of abortions in the plan has once again raised the issue of abortion in Canada. By passing a unanimous motion calling on the Prime Minister to end its ambiguity on the subject, the members of the National Assembly of Quebec have brought attention to the fact that since 1988 Canada has been without a law that regulates abortion.

A new Ipsos Reid poll conducted on behalf of Canwest News Service and Global Television has revealed that only one in three (34%) Canadians believe that the federal government should ‘reopen the issue of abortion’. In fact, nearly one half (46%) think that the federal government should just ‘leave things as they are’, and two in ten (17%) ‘don’t care one way or the other’, while 3% don’t know.

And they believe their own bullshit.

Here's SUZY, with a small correction by me. Plain text because SHE plays silly buggers with linkies.

http://www.bigbluewave.ca/2012/05/canadian-pro-life-movement-will-not-die.html

There's one thing people forget about pro-lifers: what they lack in numbers they make up for in determination dishonesty.

Remember the Great Canadian Wish List contest in 2007? How is it that in a country where legal abortion garners the support of the large majority of Canadians, pro-lifers were able to win that contest, even though they are outnumbered?

Oh yeah, we remember the dumbass Great Canadian Wish List. Fetus fetishists freeped the hell out of it and BRAGGED about doing so.

We at DJ! say: Keep it up.

In the Excited States, the constant yammering necessary to the War on Women is backfiring. USians who view abortion as morally wrong number below 50% for the first time.

And as commenter Mercedes says here, there may be another unintended consequence.

The latter [reopening the abortion debate], however, is something that can become a boon for women.  A generation of youth who hadn't been exposed to the nuances and implications of the anti-abortion agenda before has been swayed somewhat by emotional arguments during the years of non-debate, while the public (not saying the ARCC [Abortion Rights Coalition of Canada] of course, but the public at large) had been largely afraid to speak about reproductive rights.  It's no longer a question of whether we people are comfortable talking about reproductive rights, and this new generation can be shown why "personhood" can impact IVF or contraception as well as how the agenda could negatively affect women in ways that Canadians have largely not experienced for some time. This is what started to turn the debate around in the US, and it's an opportunity to turn the debate around here while there has not yet been major legislative onslaughts (although there have been pushes against funding, which is probably where the focus will turn after M-312).

It's important to not simply counter this motion, but to keep countering the rhetoric that is certain to persist afterward.

And not just the rhetoric. The persistent and pervasive dishonesty of anti-choicers.

Women's Health Is Up for Debate

Wanna fight back?

Here is ARCC's action page opposing Woodworth's Wank, aka Motion to Strip Women of Hard-Won Rights, with everything you need to fight back.

There's a link to the petition, which has just zoomed past 6900 signatures.

Link to downloadable and printable postcards to send to MPs, complete with link to an MP finder.

And there's a link to a Facebook page called 'Wombswarm Parliament' (that I can't get into because I hate Facebook), based on this US website that we blogged about here.

ARCC also has lists of MPs: anti-choice and pro-choice and unknown.

Hardworking commenter Laura also has lists of MP's emails here and here, but they might be a bit mixed up as to anti- and pro-choice. The email addresses are dandy though.

A Practical CPC* MP

Wow. A CPC MP has come out publicly against Woodworth's dog and pony show.

Simcoe North MP Bruce Stanton will not be supporting a fellow Tory backbencher’s private member’s motion to open the discussion on when life begins.

Stephen Woodworth, a Conservative MP from the riding of Kitchener Centre, filed a motion in February proposing a parliamentary committee be created to discuss when a fetus is defined as a human being — a move that has publicly reignited the abortion debate.

“I don’t support the motion,” Stanton said, noting that Woodworth’s motion would undoubtedly bring the “divisive” abortion debate back into Parliament.

“The Supreme Court has given ample position on the rights of moms and I believe we need to keep the law the way it is.”
…

“If we go back 30 years to the public health problems that were posed when there were criminal sanctions in place, you have a whole set of other problems,” said Stanton, about the possibility of changing the current, clearly defined legislation. “The anti-abortion crowd would have us believe that we should just go back to that,”? [sic] said Stanton.

“They tend to overlook the implications of doing that.”
…

“I don’t want to in any way diminish the respect I have for people who feel differently,” he said.

“They have a right to do that but I don’t think they can impose their particular view of things on other moms that have those kinds of personal life choices to make.”

A bit odd, innit, to speak of 'moms' in this context. But whatever.

Let's revisit the handy list of anti-choice MPs as compiled and updated by the indefatigable Abortion Rights Coalition of Canada. Stanton opposed the Order of Canada for Dr Morgentaler, supported Epp's C484 ('unborn victims law'), but is not 'designated' anti-choice (go to the link for criteria for this assessment).

Interestingly, Stanton did not respond to Campaign Lie's questionnaire and so is listed as 'evaluation pending'. Evaluation will probably abruptly stop pending after this little interview.

He seems to belong to no committees in this Parliament but has served on the Aboriginal Affairs and Status of Women committees.

Here's his email address: bruce.stanton @ parl.gc.ca. Let's zip him a message commending him for his pragmatic stance on this long-settled issue that, as he rightly foresees, is nothing but trouble. Perhaps encourage him to help his fellow caucus members to consider the 'implications' that he sees.

Like, not getting re-elected. Ever.

ADDED: Oh. Look. He's on Twitter.

*ADDED 2: On consultation with co-blogger deBeauxOs, I changed the title. We are going to reserve 'CONmen' for CPCers who toe the Hidden Agenda line and lie lie lie. Bruce Stanton does NOT belong in that gang.