CANADA WON’T support funding for abortions in the developing world as part of a family planning initiative, International Co-operation Minister Bev Oda confirmed Monday on the eve of a meeting with her G8 counterparts in Halifax.
Oda said Canada’s contribution to the meeting could involve family planning and the use of contraceptive methods, but funding for abortions was a non-starter.
"The details remain to be determined," she told reporters Monday. "However, Canada’s contribution will not include funding of abortions."
Her declaration means a debate over abortion could threaten a bid to find a consensus at the two-day meeting, which is expected to focus on improving the health of mothers and small children in poor countries.
Caroline Riseboro of World Vision Canada said the abortion issue amounts to a distraction from what should be the central issue for the G8: preventing 8.8 million child deaths a year from preventable conditions like diarrhea, malaria and pneumonia.
"This abortion debate is continuing when this initiative (on child and maternal health) has so much potential to do so much to save lives," she said in an interview.
"We hope that the debate isn’t going to continue to focus on this but it’s going to focus on how Canada can take a leadership role in child and maternal health."
However, Oda insisted Canada’s position will not put it at odds with other industrialized nations, including the United States.
The Canadian government still agrees with the internationally accepted definition of family planning as sanctioned by the International Health Organization, the United Nations and G8 development agencies, Oda added.
As well, she said she recently met with other development ministers in Washington and New York, where she was told there was no disagreement with Canada’s position.
"They all support Canada’s initiative," she said. "There is no division on what it includes."
But critics have said Canada’s position could conflict with the U.S. and other G8 partners who say abortion can’t be separated from family planning.
Ontario Liberal MP Bob Rae said the Tories’ position is ridiculous.
"They have this great sort of double-talk where they say, "We don’t want to reopen the abortion debate.’ Well, they just did," he said.
He said the federal government is trying to impose its moral agenda on other countries.
"Canada is now taking an ideological position and, frankly, I think they’ve raised something which could well have been avoided in the effort to create a stronger international consensus."
Until Monday, the Conservatives had refused to say if abortion would be covered under the G8 plan.
Tory MP Jim Abbott, Oda’s parliamentary secretary, initially clarified the government’s position in the House of Commons on Monday.
"Canada’s contribution to child and maternal health may include family planning," he said. "However, Canada’s contribution will not include funding abortion."
Oda later deliver her statement and answered a few questions at an unscheduled news conference at Halifax’s Pier 21, where the G8 ministers begin meeting today.
The Tories have made maternal and child health a key agenda item for the G8 summit that Canada is hosting in June at Huntsville, Ont.
But several development agencies and key allies like the United States and the United Kingdom have been critical of Canada after a series of conflicting statements that seemed to suggest Ottawa wouldn’t fund any health project that put money toward family planning, particularly abortion..........
