On Tuesday, word broke that Ottawa's mayor Jim Watson had signed a proclamation declaring today, May 12, as "Respect For Life Day." This was to honour the annual "March For Life" anti-choice/anti-abortion march that is taking place today.
The group 40 days for life has once again set itself up on Bank Street in Ottawa, across the street from the Morgentaler abortion clinic.
The pro-choice movement scored a significant victory last week in the Parliamentary debate over anti-choice Motion 312. It could prove to be a watershed moment, one that could end the abortion debate in Canada forever -- or at least until Christian fundamentalists stage an improbable coup and enslave Canadian women into a version of Margaret Atwood's The Handmaid's Tale.
A new international report on women's rights versus fetal rights has arrived just in time to help demolish Motion 312, Conservative MP Stephen Woodworth's attempt to give legal protection to fetuses in Canada by including them in the Criminal Code definition of "human being." The report, Whose Right to Life? Women's Rights and Prenatal Protections under Human Rights and Comparative Law, comes from the U.S.-based Center for Reproductive Rights (CRR), a global legal advocacy organization.