Maternal and Child Health on G8 Agenda

April 12, 2010

Prime Minister Stephen Harper will be hosting the ‘G8 Summit’ this year and included ‘maternal and child health’ as a major focus on the agenda.

It is unfortunate that the Opposition would try to politicise this noble effort to improve lives and health outcomes for women and children.  Liberal MP Bob Rae and Liberal Opposition Leader, Michael Ignatieff, presented the following motion in the House:  

“That, in the opinion of the House, the government’s G8 maternal and child health initiative for the world’s poorest regions must include the full range of family
planning, sexual and reproductive health options, including contraception, consistent with the policy of previous Liberal and Conservative governments, and all other G8 governments last year in L’Aquila, Italy; that the approach of the Government of Canada must be based on scientific evidence, which proves that education and family planning can prevent as many as one in every three maternal deaths; and that the Canadian government should refrain from advancing the failed right-wing ideologies previously imposed by the George W. Bush administration in the United States, which made humanitarian assistance conditional upon a “global gag rule” that required all non-governmental organizations receiving federal funding to refrain from promoting medically-sound family planning.”  [Abortion]

Margaret Somerville, Founding Director of the Centre for Medicine, Ethics and Law, at McGill University, stated in a March 22, 2010 article:

“The vast majority of Canadians, whatever their own personal views and values with respect to contraception, believe that this should be a private decision left to individuals. It’s also the case that for some women the use of contraception is a medical decision and, sometimes, spacing out pregnancies can help to avoid health problems for future children. The announcement by the Canadian Government that will not oppose funding for contraception supports this position.” 

Ms. Somerville’s complete article can be found at:  http://themarknews.com/articles/1164-confusing-the-maternal-health-debate

Mr. Ignatieff and Mr. Rae seem to believe that contraception and abortion are morally equivalent and that abortion is an acceptable method of “contraception”.  As Ms. Somerville stated:  “Most people, whether they are pro-choice or pro-life regarding abortion, would disagree with both those beliefs.”

The opposition brought this motion to the House to bring conflict to a noble gesture of our Prime Minister to help mothers and children in developing countries.  I was appalled with this motion and the mischievousness of the opposition. The motion is a transparent and divisive effort by Michael Ignatieff to re-open and re-ignite the abortion debate, one which Canadians and our Government do not want.

Colin Mayes, MP – Okanagan-Shuswap