We won’t let Conservative politicians walk back women’s rights: NDP

OTTAWA – On Thursday afternoon, NDP critic for Women and Gender Equality Leah Gazan addressed Conservative attacks on women’s rights during a pro-choice counter-rally in response to the anti-abortion "March for Life."

In her speech Gazan called out Pierre Poilievre’s Conservatives for voting against birth control for 9 million Canadians, using parliamentary tools to undermine women’s rights to their own bodies and attending the anti-abortion rally held on Thursday afternoon.

“People have a right to know what Pierre Poilievre’s Conservative party is about,” said Gazan. “This week alone we have seen Conservatives vote to deny millions of people access to birth control and promote harmful petitions about the ‘rights of the fetus’. Today, Conservative Members of Parliament are out supporting another attack on women and openly showing they want to walk back reproductive rights into the dark ages. It’s deplorable.”

“New Democrats have always fought hard to protect reproductive rights. Reproductive rights are human rights that should never be up for debate. The NDP is the only party who has always pushed for the right to choose.”

Under the Liberal government, many individuals seeking abortion services can’t access them – only one hospital in six offers abortion, and some provinces refuse to cover the cost of surgical abortion outside hospitals. Lack of access is even worse for people in rural areas and the North.

In February 2024, Gazan called out the Liberal government to failing to provide reproductive health care services for patients in New Brunswick when Fredericton abortion clinic, Clinic 554, was forced to close its doors due to a lack of funding.

“Canadians deserve to have the health care services they need, when they need them,” said Gazan. “It’s not acceptable to have to drive hundreds of kilometers to get an abortion. If the Liberals are denying access by underfunding reproductive health, that means they’re effectively denying the right to choose. The Liberals can’t pretend they have Canadians’ backs when they’ve consistently failed to provide health care options.

“The NDP will continue to fight for reproductive justice in every community. We’d enforce the Canada Health Act to prevent provinces from putting up barriers to accessing abortion, and we’ll work to improve access to services in rural, remote, and northern communities.”