From LifeNews.com - Canadian Pro-Lifers: Prime Minister Should OK Free Vote on Abortion Bill

by Steven Ertelt
from http://www.lifenews.com/


In advance of a debate in parliament over a bill that would stop coerced and forced abortions on women, a pro-life group says Prime Minister Stephen Harper should reconsider his position.

Harper has said he will never reopen the abortion debate nor will he support this bill, but Peter Ryan, Executive Director of New Brunswick Right to Life, hopes he will change his mind as he did before.

“Right now the Prime Minister is saying his government – all the cabinet members, around 40 MPs I think – will oppose Roxanne’s Law even though many of them are pro-life, even though the prime minister should know better,” he said. “Why does he oppose it? Because he’s said he does not want the abortion issue to come up in Parliament.”

Ryan says he hopes Harper “has a change of heart as he did last April when he voted against a pro-abortion motion after initially indicating to his caucus that he would support it.”

The pro-life advocate says Harper doesn’t necessarily need to mount a public campaign for the bill.

“All he has to do is allow all his MPs – including cabinet members – a free vote, i.e. to vote according to their conscience. Is that too much to ask?” he said in an email. “Otherwise the bill will likely be defeated.”

Pat Maloney, writing  at the National Post, agreed.
“In 1988, the Supreme Court of Canada struck down the country’s abortion law. But the court did say that Parliament has the right to legislate protection of the unborn,” Maloney writes. “Even though Mr. Harper would not support such a bill, he doesn’t have to. Bill C-510 is a private member’s bill, not a government bill. The purpose of such bills is to give backbench MPs from all parties the opportunity to bring forward legislation they believe in, independent of what’s on the government’s agenda.”

“Mr. Harper would get one vote — just like any MP — and he could vote as his conscience dictates,” Maloney added. for more on this article from LifeNews click here