Abortion safe-zone bill to be fast-tracked

All three parties agree to expedited schedule that includes time for hearings

Ontario’s Liberal government is now in favour of fast-tracking a bill to establish safe zones around abortion clinics — more than a week after rejecting such a move. Deputy Premier Deb Matthews said the difference is that now there will be some time set aside for a clos- er reading, which the opposition party’s motion did not allow for.

“The motion a week and a half ago would call for no debate, no committees, no nothing — that wasn’t something we were prepared to do,” Matthews said.

Critics, however, have noted the government spent the summer talking to groups about the proposed bill and accused the Liberals of wanting to keep the abortion issue in the news to expose divisions within the Progressive Conservative party. PC MPP Lisa MacLeod, who proposed the original “unanimous con- sent” motion, said her party already fully supports the bill and won’t propose any changes.

“We’ll have some debate and have committee time, and those who have already been consulted can come back and be consulted again, and then we can get on with it, and hopefully by the end of the month, women in Ontario will be safe — whether they are going in the abortion clinic or they are walking past it.”

MacLeod said Attorney General Yasir Naqvi, who announced the legislation setting up buffer zones of up to 150 metres around abortion clin- ics, came under “considerable backlash” for not moving quickly, given a heavily targeted clinic is located in his Ottawa Centre riding.

Public hearings on Bill 163 are expected Thursday and a clause-by-clause reading Oct. 23.

A third reading vote could happen as early as Oct. 25.

Naqvi told reporters “it is important that we take every necessary step (to ensure that we are) . . . constitutionally speaking are standing on good ground.”

Progressive Conservative Leader Patrick Brown said he is “proud to support it, and I think it’s going to pass. I don’t think I need to have a whipped vote because from what I’ve heard everyone is going to support it.”

Brown also defended his 2012 vote as a Conservative MP backing a failed motion that would have reopened the abortion debate by amending the Criminal Code’s definition of when a fetus becomes a human being.

“I support a woman’s right to choose and I support the rights of same-sex couples. I’ve always supported a woman’s right to choose.”