SURREY, British Columbia, April 5, 2013 (LifeSiteNews.com) – A new poll released this week shows political leaders to be out of sync with the majority of Canadians on the issue of sex-selective abortion.
A survey conducted by Abingdon Research between January and March showed that 87 percent of Canadians think that gender-selection abortion is wrong.
More than 25 percent of Canadians say that sex-selection abortions are happening right in their own communities.
Despite the poll results, a parliamentary committee controversially declared a motion on gendercide non-votable last week.
“The response of Canadians in this survey is telling, especially in light of the government's unwillingness to so much as allow a discussion from even taking place about gendercide in Canada,” Mike Schouten, director of WeNeedaLAW.ca said on Wednesday.
“Clearly they are out of step with the opinions of both visible and non visible minority groups and it would seem to be in their best interests to address the injustice of unfair discrimination towards pre-born girls in an expedient manner.”
The poll is timely. The theme of the 2013 March for Life is: “It's a girl should not be a death sentence”.
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The results of the poll do not paint a new picture about where Canadians stand on the issue of sex-selective abortion. A 2011 Environics poll, commissioned by LifeCanada, found that 92 percent of Canadians wanted sex-selective abortions banned. A 2012 Angus Reid Poll found that 60 percent of Canadians believe Ottawa should enact a law outlining whether a woman can abort her child based solely on his or her gender.
Conservative MP Mark Warawa (Langley) said he tabled M-408 since so many Canadians agree on the issue. M-408, tabled last summer, seeks a simple statement from Parliament, namely, that it condemns “discrimination against females, occurring through sex-selective pregnancy termination.” It would have no effect on the law in Canada.
The motion was declared non-votable last month in a move critics see as an ongoing joint effort by Canada’s Conservative government and the Opposition to keep anything abortion-related out of Parliament.
Warawa appealed the decision only to have his appeal dismissed last week. Warawa said he was “very disappointed” with the Committee’s decision and that he will announce his next step when the House returns mid April. Warawa has until April 19th to make his decision.
Schouten, along with many concerned pro-life and pro-family Canadian organizations, sees in Warawa’s saga the Canadian government making a mockery of the democratic process.
“The question is: why is the government not heeding the will of the people,” he said.
The survey of 2,505 Canadians has a margin of error of +/- 2.8 percent, or that it is right 19 times out of 20, according to Abingdon Research. The results were weighted by age, gender, visible minority and region using the most recent census data to accurately reflect the make up of English Canada. The poll was commissioned by Schouten, director of WeNeedaLAW.ca.