Canadian women face-off against attacks on choice
1990Shirley Pasholk 1990-05Read it in the scan (PDF at ETOL), page 5 →
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SOCIALIST ACTION MAY 1990 5 A House committee recently completed hearings on proposed restrictive abortion legislation introduced by Canadian Prime Minister Brian Mulroney.
After listening to testimony from International Viewpoint s a biweekly magazine pub.
lished under the auspices of the Fourth International. A one-year subscription costs only $47. Write to:
International Viewpoint, 2 rue Richard Lenoir, 93108 Montreuil, France. women's organizations, labor representatives, and physicians as to the negative impact this would have on Canadian women and testimony from anti-choice bigots demanding greater restrictions, the committee sent the bill on to the full House without amendment or recommendation for or against passage. The House is expected to debate and vote on it shortly.
The Tories attempted to gain public support for the proposed legislation by means of a last-minute cabinet shuffle. Kim Campbell, a Tory politician with a reputation for supporting women's issues, became the new justice minister, the first woman ever to hold this post.
Campbell argued that this bill is necessary to fill a legal vacuum and prevent the provinces from enacting even more restrictive legislation. But these arguments have not succeeded in halting widespread opposition to the bill.
In the meantime, police are using the threat of arrest to intimidate pro-choice activists and discourage them from political activity. Two people were arrested when Toronto police attacked a peaceful pro-choice march on Feb. 10. Over a month later, a participant in an anti- apartheid demonstration was arrested and charged with evading the police at the Feb. 10 march.
Operation Rescue named the week before Easter a "week of sacrifice" and vowed to mount a "constant presence of counselors and pickets in front of the Scott clinic" for the entire week. Pro-choice forces outmobilized these goons throughout the week.
A Holy Thursday rally called by Students for Life was billed as a highlight of this "week of sacrifice." Although Catholic schools closed early that day, and many teachers and administrators urged students to attend this rally, only 25 to 30 did so. They were heavily outnumbered by pro-choice supporters.
Plans are continuing for a cross-country day of pro-choice actions on Saturday, May 12. Demonstrations are planned in Calgary, Halifax, Montreal, Quebec City, Saskatoon, Toronto, and Vancouver, as well as in many smaller towns.
IMPACT
Post Office Box 404830 Brooklyn, NY 11240-4830 718-855-2140 case for women's rights—the whole working class stands to gain. Of course, working men are concerned and affected by the size of their families and the quality of the healthcare and lives of their wives, sisters, and daughters.
Access to decent employer-paid healthcare was a fundamental gain of the labor movement—a first step towards a national healthcare system that guarantees health services to all workers, regardless of their current employment status. Denying women access to reproductive health services, such as abortion and birth control, is a serious blow to that gain.
The main issue for the unions, of course, is the same issue that the pro-choice organizations have been explaining all along. Outlawing abortion causes women to die. If the government outlaws abortion, women will still seek to exercise some degree of control over their lives. Many will obtain illegal or self-induced abortions, and many will die.
Botched abortion is the major cause of maternal death in Third World countries where abortion is illegal. Outlawing abortion here the goal of President Bush and the antichoice movement-will cause women to die.
Restrictions already enacted in the United States, including the cut-off of federal funds for abortion and requirements that minors obtain parental permission to obtain an abortion, have caused deaths-and this in a country where abortion is still legal! Union brothers and sisters, join the struggle to keep abortion safe, legal, and accessible!
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