Rona Ambrose, Canada’s “Minister for the Status of Women,” (who, for the sake of background, is, like all members of the cabinet (ministers), a member of the ruling Conservative Party), voted in favour of a bill that “would have required a Parliamentary committee to study the point at which a baby becomes a human being.” Now, this post isn’t going to be about abortion. It is going to be about something else (the title should give you a hint).
The opposition (all of whom belong to the left), was predictably outraged that the “Minister for the Status of Women” “supported clawing back women’s rights,” as if there was no debate whatsoever on the issue of abortion. This is the modus operandi of the left; to silence debate and feign outrage whenever someone does something they disagree with (thereby framing the debate in a way that makes positions they disagree with look morally unacceptable). They are fascist control-freaks who do not tolerate freedom of thought.
There is more:
Bloc MP Maria Mourani joined the pile-on.
“She has to think about [stepping down]. Because if she doesn’t fight for women’s rights, I don’t know what she does in this place.”
Certainly, Ambrose needs to explicitly tell Canadians how she reconciles voting in favour of this bill with her duties to advocate for the rights’ of women.
Again, this suggests that there is no debate on this issue, and is framing the debate in a way that makes the assumption that women unquestionably have the right to have abortions, which many people consider murder. If you consider abortion murder, of course you aren’t going to consider it a “woman’s right.” In addition, Mourani makes the assumption that protecting abortion is the only job Ambrose has, which, as you can tell from the following, isn’t the case:
Ambrose’s record as Minister for Status of Women is impeccable.
In June 2012, The Canadian Press‘ Jennifer Ditchburn wrote a great column about Ambrose as a rising star in the Harper government and noted her initiatives — in Canada and internationally — spearheading the International Day of the Girl.
“Rosemary McCarney, president of Plan Canada, says Ambrose became convinced of the merit of such a day when she sat down at the United Nations to meet a group of girls from around the world.
“From the time she left that meeting with those kids, she just went at this issue, she was just a force to be reckoned with,” McCarney recalls.
UPDATE: Canada’s pro-choice culture warriors have lost their moorings (hat tip Andrew Coyne):
Among great swathes of the political left, and even the centre, the very concept of possible legal reform is seen as tantamount to vicious misogyny.
Literally.
Consider the reaction to this week’s free vote on Conservative MP Stephen Woodworth’s private members’ motion to create a parliamentary committee that would study the question of when life begins. Abortion-rights purists accuse Mr. Woodworth of seeking to build support for an abortion law. They are surely correct in this regard — and have every right to argue their view that the current anything-goes abort-at-will legal vacuum in Canada is preferable to the sort of regulatory scheme that exists in other nations. But their critique goes beyond that: Many suggest that the mere fact of the motion (which went down to defeat 203-91), and the yea vote by some Conservatives, constitutes a gesture of hatred.
Or, in the case of female MPs, self-hatred.
Globe & Mail columnist Tabatha Southey Tweeted that “Status of Women Minister Rona Ambrose voted Yea on [motion] 312. Now waiting for the Minister of Agriculture to vote against corn.” Canadian poet Paul Vermeersch wondered aloud: “After Rona Ambrose votes in Parliament against all Canadian women, will Peter Kent napalm a family of peregrine falcons in solidarity?”
Yes. They are fascists who do not tolerate dissent (and these are the people who constantly calling conservatives “anti-science.” Well, debate and dissent are crucial aspects of science).
