From a somewhat surprising source, this headline and deck:
We’re a ‘pro-choice country’
Poll: 91% of Canadians support women’s right to abort pregnancies but are split on who should foot the bill
The online Angus-Reid poll was conducted June 4 and 5 of 1,000 adult Canadians .
91 per cent.
The article quotes Carolyn Egan, of the Ontario Coalition for Abortion Clinics:
“Canada is very solidly a pro-choice country. There is no doubt about that,” she told the Sun yesterday. “I think there is a minority in this country who feel abortion is wrong … but I think we’re moving beyond (the debate).”
And we not moving back, no matter what sneak attacks on women’s rights the fetus fetishists attempt.
This is scary:
“The same poll found 44% of respondents thought the public purse should only pay for abortions that were medical emergencies.”
It’s encouraging to see that the majority of Canadians support choice, and are divided over funding rather than over who gets the say in what a woman does in her body. However, I have to use a bit of skepticism here: the poll only had 1000 respondents. That’s hardly representative. While I’d like to believe that 91% of Canadians support choice, I find the reality to be a bit more discouraging.
We should be frightened, as some abortion criminalizers have set out their strategies in the most brutal manner. From the Bellowing Bullying Wingnut blog:
When everyone recognizes …. Does SHE think that ‘everyone’ can be forcibly converted to her religious beliefs? And of what of those who don’t? …. Prison? Punishment?
(When everyone recognizes …. Does SHE think that ‘everyone’ can be forcibly converted to her religious beliefs? And of what of those who don’t? …. Prison? Punishment?)
….only when it would be practical to do so.
They were called conversos in Spain. But always keep in mind that in the case of historical forced conversions and unrepentant heretics, the Catholic church never did the imprisoning and punishing. Oh no, that was always secular authorities working for the secular good of their nations’ civil peace and the Church was just…near by. They’ll tell you that to this day in the Catholic Encyclopedia.
Further to my point earlier, trying to remove abortion procedures from our publicly funded health care might have the same kind of traction that Bill C-10 did among the “why should my taxes pay for [blank]” crowd.
This is a ploy that the right wing effectively used to kill national child care. Luckily the Senate called the offending clause in C-10 what it is, censorship.
It is all part of an incremental approach to eroding our progressive rights. Without public funding of abortion services, we will deny women who cannot afford private facilities much needed services. I can also imagine that there are many private insurance providers who would be unwilling to provide coverage. In the end, many health care practitioners might not find it a cost-effective service so access becomes further eroded.
Yes, the funding of abortions is a question the fetus fetishists love to focus on. They’ve asked it every year since they began annual polling. You can download a pdf of the 2007 poll here.
Interestingly, though, the percentages have been moving towards pro-choice. The option ‘abortion should always be paid for by the system’ was chosen by 23% of people in 2002 but increased to 32% in 2007.
The ‘only in cases of rape, incest, or to save the woman’s life’ option had 51% in 2002 and 47% in 2007.
The ‘abortion should be entirely privately funded’ option is the only one moving in the wrong direction, from 15% in 2002 to 17% in 2007.
BTW, in 2002, 11% fell into the ‘don’t know/no answer’ category. That percentage changed the most. In 2007, only 3% didn’t know or had no answer.