A pro-life Tory MP from Alberta is taking flak for stating his view that abortion is “not a human right” in a poll asking constituents their view on the issue. One Liberal MP has called the mailed-out questionnaire “garbage” while another has accused the pro-life MP of disobeying the prime minister by reopening the abortion debate.
Jim Hillyer, who represents Lethbridge, told the Lethbridge Herald he sent out the abortion questionnaire partly in response to Liberal leader Justin Trudeau’s declaration earlier this summer that only pro-choice candidates would be considered for the party’s ‘open’ nominations.
The mail-out asks two questions:
- Do you agree with Jim Hillyer that our government should not use your tax dollars to pay for abortions in other countries?
- Do you agree with Jim Hillyer that abortion is not a human right?
Vancouver Centre Liberal MP Hedy Fry tweeted a photo of the mail-out on Friday, calling it “garbage” and “shameful.”
“Yet another male Conservative MP telling women what they can/can't do with their bodies… all on taxpayers' dollars,” she wrote. “Needs to read the Charter.”
There is no such thing as a Charter-right to abortion in Canada. The Supreme Court’s 1988 Morgentaler decision merely decriminalized the procedure, leaving the country with no law regulating abortion. The Court did say that Parliament could ultimately solve the country’s “abortion question” by enacting new legislation.
Toronto Liberal MP Carolyn Bennett jumped into the Twitter conversation Friday afternoon, accusing Hillyer of going against the prime minister by reopening the abortion debate through the mail-out.
“I believe @JimHillyerMP your boss said he didn’t want this debate reopened,” she wrote.
When Hillyer wrote that it was the NDP Motion 510 and Mr. Trudeau’s “bozo eruption” that reopened the abortion debate, Bennett responded: “Your tax-payer-funded fliers is what reopened debate today,sIr [sic].”
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In May the pro-abortion NDP party tabled a motion asking the House of Commons to affirm a “woman’s right to choose abortion” as a “fundamental question of equality and human rights.”
The move came one day following Mr. Trudeau’s abortion edict, which Toronto Liberal MP John McKay labeled in May a “bozo eruption” during a secretly recorded conversation. The NDP ultimately decided not to bring the motion to a vote after their move to affirm the status quo on abortion appeared to backfire in favor of the pro-life cause.
Hillyer, who is a Mormon, has been given a “supportable” status from Campaign Life Coalition, Canada’s political arm of the pro-life movement, for answering its pro-life questionnaire perfectly. He also has a perfect pro-life voting record.