Vancouverites rally as one MP’s motion threatens access to abortion

If you happen to be by the Vancouver Art Gallery today and notice a crowd milling with signs and wonder ‘what’s happening now?’ The rally is Vancouver’s response to a vote taking place at the House of Commons tomorrow on Motion 312, which has women’s rights and pro-choice groups across Canada on edge.

Earlier this year, a zealous conservative MP in Kitchener, Ont., Stephan Woodsworth, brought to the table a proposal for a committee to re-examine the definition of a human being in the Criminal Code and if the definition should include fetuses. Currently, a legal human being is right after birth, whether or not it has breathed; has an independent circulation; or attached to the mother by the umbilical cord.

The motion had its second hour of debate last week and the majority of the House, including senior Tory members, opposed the proposal and it seems that the fate of the motion will be denied come Wednesday’s vote.

Women’s rights and pro-choice groups are none-the-less livid claiming that while Prime Minister Stephen Harper publicly announced that he does not want to reopen this debate, he has chosen to let the matter go to a free vote in order to see how Canadians will react.

The rally, sponsored by the B.C. Federation of Labour and Abortion Rights Coalition of Canada, is being held on the Robson street side of the art gallery at 10:00 a.m.

Image by .mused™