It's been too long since I posted on this blog and I have to apologize for not speaking up sooner on an issue that I care deeply about. The issue I am referring to is access to comprehensive sexual and reproductive health services, including safe abortion, and the Canadian government's failure to address this issue in Canada's maternal health initiative for the upcoming G8 meeting. The Canadian government has failed to provide a comprehensive strategy for addressing maternal health.
I've included, below, a letter to Prime Minister Stephen Harper about this issue. I urge you to write to Prime Minister Harper (pm@pm.gc.ca), as well as the Minister for International Cooperation Beverley J. Oda (oda.b@acdi-cida.gc.ca) and the Minister of Foreign Affairs Lawrence Cannon (Cannon.L@parl.gc.ca), as well as your local MP, to urge them to develop a maternal health initiative that is comprehensive and fair. If you do write to the Prime Minister and others, please let me know and feel free to post your letters in the comments section and/or inform me if you would like me to publish them here.
I've also included links below to articles that address this topic and related issues.
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Dear Prime Minister Harper,
When I read the headline "CIDA abortion advice ignored: records" I was dismayed. I have written before to express my concern that Canada's Maternal Health Initiative does not address the critical need for comprehensive sexual and reproductive health services, including access to safe, legal abortion.
Experts in this field, which include representatives of both government and non-government organizations, have demonstrated and stated categorically that where women are unable to access safe, legal abortion, maternal deaths are higher. Thousands of women and young girls die every year from complications associated with unsafe abortions. I am deeply concerned that the Canadian government has become part of the problem where it should be a leader in finding solutions.
I renew my call for you to reconsider your stance on this issue and to salvage the international reputation of Canada by including access to comprehensive sexual and reproductive health services, including safe, legal abortion, in our Maternal Health Initiaive.
If there is any doubt in your mind, or in the minds of your colleagues, on this issue, please remember this: it's not too late for Canada to change our stance; however, if we do not (change our stance) it will be too late for countless women all over the world. Unfortunately, for many women and girls, it already is too late. Somewhere in the world, right now, a woman, a girl, a mother, a daughter, a sister is dying because she was unable to access safe abortion services. This is not acceptable. I urge you to act now to save women's lives.
I look forward to reading about a change in policy in the coming days.
Thank you.
--------------------
Links
CIDA abortion advice ignored: records
http://www.cbc.ca/canada/story/2010/05/25/cida-abortion-maternal-health.html
Scientists urge G8 to help reduce unsafe abortions
http://www.thestar.com/news/canada/article/814998--scientists-urge-g8-to-help-reduce-unsafe-abortions
G8 ministers agree to disagree as Canada opposes abortion funding
http://www.thestar.com/news/canada/article/801575
The cynical use of abortion politics
http://www.ottawacitizen.com/opinion/cynical+abortion+politics/3070960/story.html
Aid groups advised to ‘shut the f--- up’ on abortion
http://www.thestar.com/news/canada/article/803859
Abortion not part of maternal-health initiative, development minister says
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/politics/abortion-not-part-of-maternal-health-plan-development-minister-says/article1472837/
Birth control won't be in G8 plan to protect mothers, Tories say
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/national/birth-control-wont-be-in-g8-plan-to-protect-mothers-tories-say/article1502796/
I've included, below, a letter to Prime Minister Stephen Harper about this issue. I urge you to write to Prime Minister Harper (pm@pm.gc.ca), as well as the Minister for International Cooperation Beverley J. Oda (oda.b@acdi-cida.gc.ca) and the Minister of Foreign Affairs Lawrence Cannon (Cannon.L@parl.gc.ca), as well as your local MP, to urge them to develop a maternal health initiative that is comprehensive and fair. If you do write to the Prime Minister and others, please let me know and feel free to post your letters in the comments section and/or inform me if you would like me to publish them here.
I've also included links below to articles that address this topic and related issues.
-----------------------------
Dear Prime Minister Harper,
When I read the headline "CIDA abortion advice ignored: records" I was dismayed. I have written before to express my concern that Canada's Maternal Health Initiative does not address the critical need for comprehensive sexual and reproductive health services, including access to safe, legal abortion.
Experts in this field, which include representatives of both government and non-government organizations, have demonstrated and stated categorically that where women are unable to access safe, legal abortion, maternal deaths are higher. Thousands of women and young girls die every year from complications associated with unsafe abortions. I am deeply concerned that the Canadian government has become part of the problem where it should be a leader in finding solutions.
I renew my call for you to reconsider your stance on this issue and to salvage the international reputation of Canada by including access to comprehensive sexual and reproductive health services, including safe, legal abortion, in our Maternal Health Initiaive.
If there is any doubt in your mind, or in the minds of your colleagues, on this issue, please remember this: it's not too late for Canada to change our stance; however, if we do not (change our stance) it will be too late for countless women all over the world. Unfortunately, for many women and girls, it already is too late. Somewhere in the world, right now, a woman, a girl, a mother, a daughter, a sister is dying because she was unable to access safe abortion services. This is not acceptable. I urge you to act now to save women's lives.
I look forward to reading about a change in policy in the coming days.
Thank you.
--------------------
Links
CIDA abortion advice ignored: records
http://www.cbc.ca/canada/story/2010/05/25/cida-abortion-maternal-health.html
Scientists urge G8 to help reduce unsafe abortions
http://www.thestar.com/news/canada/article/814998--scientists-urge-g8-to-help-reduce-unsafe-abortions
G8 ministers agree to disagree as Canada opposes abortion funding
http://www.thestar.com/news/canada/article/801575
The cynical use of abortion politics
http://www.ottawacitizen.com/opinion/cynical+abortion+politics/3070960/story.html
Aid groups advised to ‘shut the f--- up’ on abortion
http://www.thestar.com/news/canada/article/803859
Abortion not part of maternal-health initiative, development minister says
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/politics/abortion-not-part-of-maternal-health-plan-development-minister-says/article1472837/
Birth control won't be in G8 plan to protect mothers, Tories say
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/national/birth-control-wont-be-in-g8-plan-to-protect-mothers-tories-say/article1502796/
