This column was published in the National Post<\/a> on June 13, 2013<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

This summer, if one anti-abortion group has its way, nearly a quarter of a million Canadian mailboxes soon will be stuffed with a graphic photograph of an aborted fetus juxtaposed with the smiling face of the local Member of Parliament.
<\/p>\n

The Canadian Centre for Bio-Ethical Reform (CCBR) has initiated what they call \u201cFace the Children,\u201d a project in which 250,000 postcards will be delivered into five key constituencies. They are targeting the ridings represented by Prime Minister Stephen Harper, Calgary MP Michelle Rempel (an up-and-coming Conservative MP said to be in line for a cabinet position) and southern Ontario MPs Bal Gosal, Parm Gill and Rick Dykstra.<\/p>\n

The CCBR is concerned that these MPs (among others) have refused to protect pre-born children at any stage of pregnancy. \u201c[Harper\u2019s] position to defeat any abortion-related legislation and to shut down debate in Parliament is so extreme that it means he is unwilling to ban abortion [even] in the third trimester \u2014 pitting our prime minister against a majority of Canadians,\u201d says Stephanie Gray, CCBR\u2019s Executive Director.<\/p>\n

It is one more indication that many Canadians reject the Canadian legal status quo on pre-born vulnerability, i.e. abortion on demand with no restrictions.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

In the past year alone, the ruling Conservatives have had to deal with two pro-life motions. Conservative MP Stephen Woodworth introduced Motion 312, requesting that a Parliamentary committee study the Criminal Code definition of \u201chuman being.\u201d This Motion was immediately followed by Mark Warawa\u2019s Motion 408, asking that the House of Commons condemn sex-selective abortion.<\/p>\n

The mainstream press published hundreds of articles related to these private-members\u2019 initiatives. The level of coverage is a clear sign that the groundswell of support for some restrictions on abortion remains politically significant. Unfortunately, Prime Minister Harper has missed several opportunities to build support within his caucus \u2014 and, for that matter, within Parliament \u2014 on this important bioethical issue.<\/p>\n

His actions, especially regarding Motion 408, have caused division within his own party. Approximately one quarter of Mr. Harper\u2019s voting base are social conservatives and adamantly pro-life. These are the folks who have been the foot soldiers in the Conservatives\u2019 rise to success. If Harper will not allow even a discussion to take place on this issue \u2014 if he prefers to kowtow to Canada\u2019s most militant feminists (none of whom are ever going to vote for him anyway \u2014 then he will isolate many of his supporters. Why should these people continue to work for his party, or even show up to vote for it?<\/p>\n

In fact, political pundits are openly opining that a new leadership race in the Conservative party could well happen before 2015 \u2014 partly because of this issue. In response to CCBR\u2019s project, long-time politico and former PMO Chief of Staff Norman Spector commented on Twitter: \u201cWhy Stephen Harper won\u2019t be running in 2015.\u201d<\/p>\n

The legal status quo that the late Henry Morgentaler helped create can no longer be supported, morally or politically. It is high time the Prime Minister recognized this and acted accordingly. As the grass-roots activists who will soon be sending out pro-life materials can attest, this issue won\u2019t go away, no matter how hard Harper wishes it would.<\/p>\n

\u2014 Mike Schouten is Campaign Director for WeNeedaLAW.ca, a group advocating that \u201cthe right to life of our pre-born neighbours be protected by law.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

This column was published in the National Post on June 13, 2013 This summer, if one anti-abortion group has its way, nearly a quarter of a million Canadian mailboxes soon will be stuffed with a graphic photograph of an aborted fetus juxtaposed with the smiling face of the local Member of Parliament. The Canadian Centre […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3014,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[61],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/test.weneedalaw.ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/448"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/test.weneedalaw.ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/test.weneedalaw.ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/test.weneedalaw.ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3014"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/test.weneedalaw.ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=448"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/test.weneedalaw.ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/448\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":5364,"href":"https:\/\/test.weneedalaw.ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/448\/revisions\/5364"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/test.weneedalaw.ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=448"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/test.weneedalaw.ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=448"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/test.weneedalaw.ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=448"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}