Posted on by CUPW Vancouver

Women’s Committee Bulletin – March 2012

Women’s Committee Bulletin

March 2012

The Federal Conservatives – the same people who ordered us back to work, are now challenging a  woman’s right to reproductive choice.

The Federal Conservatives have given valuable Parliamentary time to their own MP Stephen Woodsworth to put forward motion M-312.  This motion calls for a special parliamentary committee to examine whether the Criminal Code definition of when a child becomes a “human being” should be changed to extend legal personhood to fetuses.

 The sole intent of this motion is to make it legally possible to re-criminalize abortion and remove a  woman’s right to control her body.  M-312 is a waste of time and money because the issues it raises have already been answered by Canada’s Supreme Court.

If this motion became law it would also undermine the rights of any pregnant woman. That’s  because it would invite the prosecution of pregnant women for any perceived harm to fetuses by creating confusion around how child welfare laws and policies apply to fetuses as legal persons. In the U.S., hundreds of women have been prosecuted because of so-called “fetal homicide” laws and  thousands more have been subjected to punitive and counterproductive interventions.

CUPW has had a policy supporting a woman’s right to control her body, including the right to safe legal abortion,  for over 30 years.   We do not need to reopen this debate when there are so many other important issues.

Instead of debating Motion M-312 Parliament should discuss real ways of reducing high unemployment, should protect our environment, and should debate strategies to eliminate child poverty.

The Vancouver Local CUPW Women’s Committee is asking you to help us stop this motion.   You can:

  1. Write,email or phone your MP and tell her/him that you do not support motion M-312.
  2. If you are a woman, come to meetings of the Vancouver Local Women’s Committee to discuss this and other issues.
  3. Sign and distribute this PETITION(pdf).
  4. Go to the Abortion rights Coalition for further information: http://www.arcc-cdac.ca.