Canada won’t fund abortion for child brides, rape victims
OTTAWA— Stephen Harper’s Conservative government is refusing to let development funding go to projects that provide abortions for child brides and the victims of war rape.
International Development Minister Christian Paradis made Ottawa’s position clear on Friday after questions were raised in the wake of Conservatives’ condemnation at the United Nations of forced marriages.
But Paradis said the government will apply the same guidelines it uses for its funding of maternal and child health projects, a signature initiative of the G8 meeting in Muskoka in 2010.
The Conservatives had made clear going into that summit that Canada would not spend any humanitarian dollars on abortion and that approach now applies to this latest Tory development effort, Paradis said.
“We’ve been clear in Muskoka, so you can think the same logic will apply here,” Paradis said Friday, according to a Canadian Press report. “There are plenty of measures that can be taken and Muskoka demonstrated that and we’ll follow it in a consistent way with Muskoka.”
Paradis’ comments come after his cabinet colleague, Foreign Affairs Minister John Baird, used a UN appearance to strongly condemn forced marriages and child brides, calling the practice “unacceptable.” NDP Leader Thomas Mulcair said the Conservative position shows no compassion for women, who are often the victims of a deliberate campaign of rape in armed conflicts. “In some conflicts, and in particular in Africa, rape has not only become a weapon, it’s also a strategy of war,” Mulcair said. “Women who are victims of criminal sexual violence in those countries have a right to get care and help, including a safe abortion,” Mulcair told reporters Friday. “Ideology on the part of the Conservatives is blinding them to the fact that women have a right to that health care, including a safe abortion,” Mulcair said. He added that the government should set aside its ideological position and focus on “helping victims who need and deserve our help.” Liberal MP Hedy Fry also voiced concerns, saying the government’s primary concern should be the best needs of the women at risk, rather than cherry-pick based on ideology.
“Ideology drives everything this government does, which is a very dangerous precedent,” Fry told CTV’s Power Play.
“It should be allowable where it is legal. Why is this minister making it up on his own ideological grounds . . . it is harming people,” Fry said.
Harper has faced pressure from within his own caucus to reopen the abortion debate in this country. However, the prime minister has said repeatedly that his government will not support legislation that seeks to overturn existing laws.