By the Deputy Leader of the
Christian Heritage Party,
Rod Taylor:
News reports suggest that there will be a vote on Tuesday regarding the government's proposal to provide resources for women and children through the G8. The attempt to politicize the proposed Canadian initiative designed to improve health outcomes for women and children around the globe is disgusting. Canada is a giving nation, a compassionate nation and a free nation. Our ability and desire to reduce deaths, disease and discomfort for millions of women and children is a breath of fresh air and a cup of cool water for those suffering in conditions of poverty, abuse and unpleasant social conditions.
The blatant attempt to turn a humanitarian gesture into a platform for partisan wrangling is another signal that some people get into politics for the wrong reason.
To attempt to link compassionate aid to the stale and stagnant spectre of even more abortions, even more killings of innocent human beings is a ruse so despicable and morally bankrupt that it is hard to imagine. There is a promise of blessing to those who offer a cup of cold water to one who is thirsty but to those who promote death for the innocent and vulnerable there can be no confidence and no quietness of conscience.
As for the claim that opponents of contraception adhere to a "
failed right-wing ideology" - here's
a great rebuttal by MPs Brad Trost and Maurice Vellacott:
For example, on its website IPPF says that “where abortion is legally restricted in most instances, harmful, clandestine practices have damaging health effects and claim the lives of thousands of women, particularly poor women, each year…. We seek to increase access to safe abortion services by advocating for changes in restrictive laws and public policies.” This is their real agenda which may be unknown to most people.
Yet where is the evidence that permissive abortion laws improve women's health?
As Ian Gentles, research director at the deVeber Institute for Bioethics and Social Research has pointed out in a recent article in the National Post, Poland virtually prohibited abortion 20 years ago and since that time, maternal mortality has decreased by 75%, infant mortality decreased by almost 66%, and the rate of premature births decreased by over 50%.
According to the World Economic Forum's “Global Gender Gap Report 2009,” Ireland, the only other European country besides Poland where abortion is illegal, has the lowest maternal mortality ratio of any country, with one death per 100,000 live births.
In a letter in the Canadian Medical Association Journal in 2009, Dr. Rene Leiva cites a 2006 Salvadorian Ministry of Health study. Up until 1998, abortion was legal in El Salvador and the maternal mortality ratio was calculated to be 150. After 1998 abortions were no longer legally permitted and by 2006 the maternal mortality ratio had dropped to 71.2, a reduction of more than 50%.
So, whose ideology has failed? And what concept better be promoted at the G8 summit, if we're serious about improving reproductive health and reducing maternal and infant mortality? I think the answer is obvious. The greatest thing about family values is that they are self-evident.
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