Will Phil Kill Abortion Bill?

As noted earlier on DumpPhil.ca, Phil McColeman recently presented six petitions before Parliament asking to re-open the abortion debate. Now, we need to ask: How is Phil going to vote on Motion 312?

Motion 312 is a private member's motion put forward by Phil's Conservative colleague Stephen Woodworth, who hails from neighbouring Kitchener (click here to read Motion 312 on Woodworth's website). Motion 312 would re-open the abortion debate by re-opening the debate about when life begins – currently, Criminal Code s. 223 states that life begins at the moment of birth. If the Conservatives change that law to state that life begins earlier (for example, if the Conservatives decide that life begins at the moment that sperm fertilizes a female egg), then abortion would be legally considered murder and, therefore, quite illegal.

Phil McColeman has not stated how he will vote on this bill. But we can be fairly certain that Phil supports re-opening the abortion debate in Canada, for the following reasons:

• Phil chose to present six petitions before Parliament asking for the abortion debate to be re-opened.
• Phil has attended pro-life, anti-abortion rallies and events in the past.
• Phil has made his small-c conservative stance clear with respect on other so-called "family" issues, by opposing a bill that would have protected transgendered people from hate crimes and by opposing same-sex marriage.
• Phil has earned the support of pro-life, anti-abortion groups.

Phil owes it to his constituents to come right out and state that he wants to re-open the abortion debate, notwithstanding that it could result in the deprivation of women's rights across the country. Here's a recent letter to the editor calling Phil out for his cowardly silence:

Get off the fence, Phil

Pro-choice or pro-life? Politicians do not get elected into office without being asked this question multiple times. So, when it comes to Motion 312, which calls for a parliamentary committee to re-determine when human life begins, it is expected that most politicians will know how they are going to vote. They will likely vote the way they told their constituents they were going to when the pro-life vs. pro-choice question came up during their election campaigns.

This however, does not seem to be the case for Brant MP Phil McColeman, who claims to be on the fence about the issue, despite having ran for office three times, and despite belonging to a party that repeatedly stated it would not be re-opening the abortion debate. The Conservative party was in fact, so adamant about this, that Prime Minister Stephen Harper even went as far as to state “as long as I’m Prime Minister we are not reopening the abortion debate”(Apr. 21, 2011. CBC). Interestingly enough, the individual that put forth this motion is actually a member of the Conservative party. Maybe he was trying to send Mr. Harper a message..

E. Jones
Brantford

On a final note, DumpPhil.ca would like to wish a Happy Mother's Day to all the mothers out there, and also offer our support for a woman's freedom to choose whether she will become a mother or not.