Maternal health initiative will not include abortion

By Deborah Gyapong

Canadian Catholic News


OTTAWA (CCN) — Canada will not include abortion in its G8 maternal health initiative, despite pressure from Opposition parties and foreign governments.


“Canadians want to see the foreign aid money used for things to help save the lives of women and children in ways that unite the Canadian people,” Prime Minister Stephen Harper said April 27, in Question Period in response to a question from Liberal Leader Michael Ignatieff who accused the government of reversing Canada’s 25-year-old “consensus” on the issue.


“We understand that other governments, other taxpayers may do something different,” Harper said. “We want to make sure our funds are used to save the lives of women and children and are used on the many, many things that are available to us and, frankly, do not divide the Canadian population.”


“The reality is that for 25 years, this country has said, has spoken clearly in defence of a woman’s right to choose, all right?” Ignatieff told journalists after question period. “This government has turned its back on that decision and in doing so, is now in the ridiculous position of failing to defend overseas the rights that Canadian women have here at home and that position, we think, is a step backward for Canada, for women and for international maternal health.”


Ever since Harper announced the initiative earlier this year, there have been questions on whether it would include abortion, including mixed messages from some cabinet ministers.


While hosting a meeting of G8 development ministers in Halifax, Development Minister Bev Oda said April 27 that “Canada’s contribution will not include abortion.”


Oda said other countries may identify their own priorities. During a recent meeting of foreign ministers in Canada, US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and British Foreign Minister David Miliband said any initiative must include abortion.


The Catholic Organization for Life and Family (COLF) and the Catholic Civil Rights League (CCRL) praised the Canadian government’s sticking to its initial focus on maternal and child health. The government has faced continued pressure from Opposition parties to include abortion in the plan.


“I’m glad that she was firm and that she was explicit that Canada’s contribution to the initiative will not include abortion,” said CCRL executive director Joanne McGarry.


“It’s good to see that Minister Oda does not consider pregnancy as a disease,” said COLF director Michele Boulva.


The initiative will include a wide range of possible interventions, including training health workers, nutrition and micro-nutrients, prevention of disease such as malaria, diarrhea and HIV/AIDS, proper medication, immunization, clean water and sanitation, Oda said.


The minister said family planning, including contraception, may be part of the package. She described family planning as “a woman’s ability to space and limit her pregnancies.”


Oda’s reference to family planning leaves a “question mark” over the initiative in terms of Catholic teaching, McGarry said, noting family planning can include natural methods as well as artificial contraception, including abortifacients.


Boulva said the initiative could include natural family planning methods that are “more respectful of the ecology of the body and help couples to control their sexuality instead of being controlled by their sexuality.”


“Obviously no one expects women to have children every year,” she said.
Shannon Joseph, the former director of World Youth Alliance, an NGO with consultative status at the United Nations, said it is good Oda is separating maternal health from so-called reproductive “rights” issues related to abortion.


Joseph said many OECD countries have tied abortion, contraception and population control with development. She recalled attending a meeting at the UN where a conference presenter said they were having “low uptakes on reproductive health services” in an African community until they linked it with primary health care.


The goal of the wealthy countries is to make making pregnancy rarer, not helping women have safer pregnancies and deliveries, she said. “It’s an easy solution to reduce rates of fertility to improve maternal health stats.”
She said this “we know better” attitude does not respect the developing countries at the table or the women in those countries.