25 signatures reached
To: Mel Arnold and other Conservative MP's voting in favour of criminalizing abortions and opening the abortion debate
Canadians Won't Go Back on Abortion Rights
Dear Mel and Other Conservative MP's
This letter serves as a petition to highlight your constituency’s displeasure and want for change in your voting record regarding abortion rights in Canada. As our elected MP we expect to be accurately represented when you go to your party and Ottawa.
Your past voting records indicate:
Bill C-233: This enactment amends the Criminal Code to make it an offence for a medical practitioner to perform an abortion knowing that the abortion is sought solely on the grounds of the child’s genetic sex. It also requires the Minister of Health, after consultation with representatives of the provincial governments responsible for health, to establish guidelines respecting information provided by a medical practitioner in relation to a request for an abortion.
Bill C-255: This enactment amends the Criminal Code to make it an offence to cause injury or death to a preborn child while committing or attempting to commit an offence against a pregnant woman and to add pregnancy as an aggravating circumstance for the purpose of sentencing.
There are currently no laws in Canada about abortion and must stay that way. Abortion is a private matter between a person and their doctor and has nothing to do with your politics. Abortion in Canada is legal at all stages of pregnancy, regardless of the reason, and is publicly funded as a medical procedure under the combined effects of the federal Canada Health Act and provincial health-care systems. Your vote indicates that you seek to criminally charge persons who seek an abortion. These bills act as a Trojan Horse to make certain abortions in Canada a criminal offence laying the groundwork for further legislation that would limit access to essential healthcare services as we have seen in the United States.
This is not politically partisan as there are members of your party who voted no on these bills, including your own party leader. We are also aware that you and an overwhelming number of your colleagues refused to accept a proposal from your past party leader to finally put the abortion debate to rest in Canada. You have since publicly supported a candidate for party leadership that has stated they will allow abortion legislation to be introduced. These final two facts prove to me that your previous record is not innocuous as you have insultingly tried to make it seem. This is an aggressive attack on the autonomy of citizens over their bodies at a time when you yourself have stood with freedom rally enthusiasts appropriating the human rights movement's own mantras like "my body, my choice". How dare you stand in solidarity with them while you leave us knocking on the door of an empty office.
Your Role as an MP: make a difference by creating laws and helping their constituents with problems. They work within the structure of Parliament and their parties to make decisions in the interest of Canada. A Member’s job is as varied as the many regions of Canada and the people who live here.
As a member of your constituency, I want you to know that I am overwhelmingly in support of the right for Canadians to choose and access a safe, free, legal abortion, and I want to be represented accurately in the House of Commons.
This letter serves as a petition to highlight your constituency’s displeasure and want for change in your voting record regarding abortion rights in Canada. As our elected MP we expect to be accurately represented when you go to your party and Ottawa.
Your past voting records indicate:
Bill C-233: This enactment amends the Criminal Code to make it an offence for a medical practitioner to perform an abortion knowing that the abortion is sought solely on the grounds of the child’s genetic sex. It also requires the Minister of Health, after consultation with representatives of the provincial governments responsible for health, to establish guidelines respecting information provided by a medical practitioner in relation to a request for an abortion.
Bill C-255: This enactment amends the Criminal Code to make it an offence to cause injury or death to a preborn child while committing or attempting to commit an offence against a pregnant woman and to add pregnancy as an aggravating circumstance for the purpose of sentencing.
There are currently no laws in Canada about abortion and must stay that way. Abortion is a private matter between a person and their doctor and has nothing to do with your politics. Abortion in Canada is legal at all stages of pregnancy, regardless of the reason, and is publicly funded as a medical procedure under the combined effects of the federal Canada Health Act and provincial health-care systems. Your vote indicates that you seek to criminally charge persons who seek an abortion. These bills act as a Trojan Horse to make certain abortions in Canada a criminal offence laying the groundwork for further legislation that would limit access to essential healthcare services as we have seen in the United States.
This is not politically partisan as there are members of your party who voted no on these bills, including your own party leader. We are also aware that you and an overwhelming number of your colleagues refused to accept a proposal from your past party leader to finally put the abortion debate to rest in Canada. You have since publicly supported a candidate for party leadership that has stated they will allow abortion legislation to be introduced. These final two facts prove to me that your previous record is not innocuous as you have insultingly tried to make it seem. This is an aggressive attack on the autonomy of citizens over their bodies at a time when you yourself have stood with freedom rally enthusiasts appropriating the human rights movement's own mantras like "my body, my choice". How dare you stand in solidarity with them while you leave us knocking on the door of an empty office.
Your Role as an MP: make a difference by creating laws and helping their constituents with problems. They work within the structure of Parliament and their parties to make decisions in the interest of Canada. A Member’s job is as varied as the many regions of Canada and the people who live here.
As a member of your constituency, I want you to know that I am overwhelmingly in support of the right for Canadians to choose and access a safe, free, legal abortion, and I want to be represented accurately in the House of Commons.
Why is this important?
Our hearts have been heavy these last few days since the overturning of Roe V Wade. A whole generation of people in a first-world country are now second-class citizens. They have lost autonomy over their bodies.
When we look at our daughters, and around at all people in our lives we wonder- how safe are all of us from the same fate in Canada?
The answer to that question is unfortunately not very. The lack of legislation pertaining to abortions in Canada is a scary double-edged sword. No legislation means no precedent to build on but it also means there is an empty slate for precedent to be introduced. This is why it is so important to name and understand how dangerous these Bills, being introduced and voted in favour of by conservatives really are. Now is not the time to be complacent, it's not the time to say it couldn't happen here. It is time to say we refuse to let it happen here.
We want to add that this isn’t a partisan issue. While the conservatives are the only real threat to abortion rights at the moment we would hold any party or MP to the same account.
When we look at our daughters, and around at all people in our lives we wonder- how safe are all of us from the same fate in Canada?
The answer to that question is unfortunately not very. The lack of legislation pertaining to abortions in Canada is a scary double-edged sword. No legislation means no precedent to build on but it also means there is an empty slate for precedent to be introduced. This is why it is so important to name and understand how dangerous these Bills, being introduced and voted in favour of by conservatives really are. Now is not the time to be complacent, it's not the time to say it couldn't happen here. It is time to say we refuse to let it happen here.
We want to add that this isn’t a partisan issue. While the conservatives are the only real threat to abortion rights at the moment we would hold any party or MP to the same account.