B.C. Conservatives pressured to clarify position on abortion
The B.C. Conservatives are facing pressure to clarify their stance on abortion after controversial comments made by one of the party's MLAS.
The debate was ignited after MLA Bruce Banman on Wednesday made a statement in the legislature about Mother's Day and defined motherhood as starting “from the moment of conception.”
The B.C. NDP and B.C. Greens jumped on that phrase, calling it a “dog whistle' — or code words — to anti-abortion campaigners who want to restrict women's access to abortion and reproductive health care.
“My stance is a woman has the right to choose what to do with her body,” Banman told Postmedia News on Friday.
It's shameful that the B.C. NDP is trying to turn his Mother's Day statement into a political wedge issue, Banman said, adding it's a clear attempt to distract from the governing party's failings on drug decriminalization and the affordability crisis.
Conservative Leader John Rustad did not return a request for comment on Friday. In a statement on social media Thursday evening, Rustad said he will “not reopen the abortion debate.” However he did not explicitly state his stand on abortion.
“The 1988 Supreme Court decision is clear,” he said. “This is not a provincial issue.”
Kelli Paddon, the B.C. NDP'S parliamentary secretary for gender equity, said it's not true that provincial politicians have no role in determining access to abortion.
Abortion is not just about the legal right, she said, but about how easily women can access reproductive health services, which is determined by provincial healthcare funding.
“A B.C. Conservative government or minister could easily reduce the access to abortion if they wanted,” Paddon said.
Paddon referred to New Brunswick, where the province refuses to fund private abortion clinics, limiting women to surgical abortions at only two hospitals.
B.C. Green Leader Sonia Furstenau on Thursday called on the party leaders to affirm their support for reproductive rights in response to “growing concerns about potential federal encroachments on abortion access.”
Premier David Eby said on X: “We will always vigilantly defend a woman's right to choose. We've seen in the U.S. how these rights can be taken away after so long.”
B.C. United Leader Kevin Falcon said Thursday that, “Women have the right to choose. That's been a position of our party for a long time and that position has not changed.”
Dozens of people gathered on the legislature lawn Thursday for an anti-abortion rally organized by March for Life B.C. A similar rally was held outside the Parliament buildings in Ottawa and was attended by two federal Conservative MPS, Cathay Wagantall and Arnold Viersen.
Viersen also introduced an anti-abortion petition in the House of Commons, urging the federal government to protect “pre-born children.”
Sebastian Skamski, a spokesman for federal Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre, said claims by the Liberals that Poilievre, if elected, would use the notwithstanding clause to circumvent the Supreme Court of Canada's ruling on abortion are “outlandish.”
“A common sense Conservative government will not legislate on abortion and therefore would never use this section of the Constitution pertaining to this matter,” Skamski said in a statement to Postmedia News on Friday.
Abortion, along with gender identity and trans rights, is emerging as another wedge issue that is
We've watched in the (U.S.) this pattern. First an attack on trans people ... and then the second tends to follow, which is an attack on women's reproductive rights.
heavily influenced by the political discourse in the United States.
In 2022, the U.S. Supreme Court, now dominated by conservative judges, three of whom were appointed by Donald Trump when he was president, overturned Roe v. Wade. That has allowed states to ban abortion.
“We've watched in the United States this pattern. First an attack on trans people, and on issues around gender identity and trans rights, and then the second tends to follow, which is an attack on women's reproductive rights,” Furstenau said.
Furstenau said she's concerned about disparities when it comes to accessing reproductive health services, especially for those in rural and remote parts of B.C.
The vast majority of surgical abortion facilities are concentrated in the southern region of B.C., she said. She noted the nearest clinic to Haida Gwaii is 1,700 kilometres away, or 26 hours' travel time.