By Nadine Moedt (The Cascade) – Email
Print Edition: October 10, 2012
Over 14,000 pro-choice advocates are calling for the resignation of Canada’s Minister for the Status of Women, Rona Ambrose. Ambrose voted in favour of M-312, a private member’s motion that would have formed a committee to study parts of the Criminal Code that establish when a fetus becomes a legal person. Many interpret this as her wish to reopen the abortion debate in Canada. Executive director of the Abortion Coalition Joyce Arthur said, in the National Post, that Ambrose’s vote puts women’s rights below that of a “fertilized egg.”
Ambrose’s explanation for her vote, voiced in a single tweet, cites sex-selective abortion. “I have repeatedly raised concerns about discrimination of girls by sex selection abortion,” wrote Ambrose, “no law needed, but we need awareness!”
Why would Ambrose risk reopening the abortion debate—despite the fact that Harper specifically asked his party not to—simply to raise “awareness”? Surely there is another way to do so without risking the basic rights of every woman across Canada.
Now the question on everyone’s mind: what was the intent of Ambrose’s vote? Is she trying to re-open the abortion debate and mirror the anti-choice approach entrenched in the Conservative government?
When Ambrose had a chance to defend herself during a question period on September 27, she effectively skirted around the issue. “This government has an incredible track record of standing up for Canadian women and girls,” she said. “We have increased the funding to the Status of Women to its highest point in Canadian history. So far, in just a couple of years, we have funded over 550 projects from coast to coast to coast to tackle violence against women and empower women and girls, and we will continue to do just that.” The issue was then dropped.
Ambrose has never stated her position on the abortion debate. It’s surprising to many that she would remain silent on an issue so fundamental to women’s rights. Her silence following her vote is not reassuring. Sex-selective abortion is a tragic thing, and certainly an issue that needs attention. If, however, we believe that abortion is a woman’s choice and something private between her and her doctor, we have to acknowledge that by supporting a woman’s right to choose, we are supporting her right to choose to terminate a pregnancy due to reasons we may not agree with. Raising awareness as a way to lower numbers of sex selective abortion is a good goal. But Ambrose’s route is dangerously open to misinterpretation, and her side-stepping suggests other motives.
Currently there are no abortion restrictions in Canada. The right to have control over your body and be able to choose whether or not you sacrifice that body in order to carry a child is fundamentally a question of women’s rights. If a woman feels she cannot support a child, or does not wish to bring a child into this world, she should be able to get an abortion with no questions asked, at any stage of gestation. It is Ambrose’s job to protect this right; by staying quiet she is failing women across Canada.
Rona Ambrose needs to make a statement of her position on the abortion issue. You don’t have to support women’s right to choose. But if you don’t, you definitely should not be Minister of Status for Women.
