the regina mom knows that Mr. Harper clearly stated, numerous times, that a Conservative government would not re-open the abortion debate. Yet, on Thursday, April 26, she watched members of Parliament debate Motion 312, which ultimately seeks personhood rights for fetuses which would enable the re-criminalization of abortion, as well as deny the constitutional rights of all pregnant women. In other words, it is yet another backdoor attack on women's Charter rights.

Preamble

Tonight I wear red in support of my feminist sisters,

the Radical Handmaids, who gathered today on Parliament Hill

in opposition to Motion 312 which re-opens the abortion debate

tomorrow afternoon in the House of Commons.

And I share this poem.

Birthing change

1

Once upon a time his blue eyes dazzled her

maiden dreams    led her down dirt

roads, onto prairie trails, into abandoned

houses, churches, barns, unwittingly

preparing her for an entry that quivered her world,

sent her solo, pink-slipped, and with a growing belly

Today, on Parliament Hill, the Radical Handmaids gather in opposition to Motion 312, the anti-choice motion that seeks to redefine when human life begins. The Motion will be debated in the House of Commons on Thursday. The Handmaids' action, based on Margaret Atwood's novel, The Handmaid's Tale, is sure to be an interesting one.

Sporting red garments and "Flying Nun" hats in an allusion to Margaret Atwood's classic novel The Handmaid’s Tale, the Handmaids are protesting Bill M-312 as a regressive attack on women.

the regina mom collects links and writes blog posts. She had it in mind to do a series around abortion because Motion 312 will be debated in the House of Commons on Thursday. Not surprisingly, the links she's collected do in fact have to do with abortion. What has become exceedingly clear is that there is not only an attack on women's reproductive rights in North American, but one that is global.

And more, perhaps. As some of you may already know, the regina mom has taken to occasionally performing at the local slam poetry event in Regina, Word Up Wednesday. This Wednesday, April 25, she will be there with new and old poems to share and be judged on. She would love to see friends in the audience!

In the 80s, it was the Devine regime provincially and the Mulroney machine federally that moved the regina mom into political activism. The issue of reproductive rights got her involved in the women's movement of the day. And here she is, more than 25 years later, again working on that file.

On Thursday, April 26, the House of Commons is scheduled to debate MP Stephen Woodworth's Motion 312 which ultimately seeks to make abortion illegal. If passed, the abortion debate in Canada will officially be re-opened. 

Nick Fillmore asks a question The Regina Mom has been grappling with for years: "Is Stephen Harper displaying fascist-like tendencies?" Ever since Naomi Wolf published "Ten Steps To Close Down an Open Society" at the Huffington Post in April, 2007, an essay has been brewing on TRM's computer. (Yes, TRM admits to being a slow writer.)

[Correction: Thanks to an observant commenter at thereginamom.com who noted that Hitler was misquoted in an earlier version of this post the regina mom posts this version with proper attribution.]

That the HarperCons might in any way be surprised by the public response to Public Safety Minister Vic Toews' introduction of the "snoop and spy" Bill C-30 made The Regina Mom laugh!  The public responses to the HarperCons over the past while have been strong:

A tiny community called out to the world. And the world answered. Foreign aid arrived in Canada courtesy of environmental organizations which, if you'll remember, dear Reader, are "radical groups" with "radical agendas" trying to "derail" the Northern Gateway Pipeline project. Our radical agenda, backed by independent science, demands acknowledgement that the continued expansion of the tar sands is killing the environment, people, creatures. Our audacity to challenge the continued expansion to the tar sands, including the proposed Northern Gateway Pipeline.

Sometimes, The Regina Mom wonders why she bothers to write her long blog posts, when others do it excellently with a short quote and video or are capable of piecing together a few headlines about the HarperCons' visit to China, the trade trip on which the Enbridge CEO has accompanied the prime minister presumably to tout the pipeline projected to forever change the B.C.