Reproductive rights have become the New Democratic Party’s (NDP) priority in Parliament, with Jagmeet Singh saying that his party will use their next opposition day to propose a motion that will provide increased access to abortion services.
On Oct. 24, Singh announced the NDP’s new action toward strengthening reproductive rights in Canada while speaking to reporters in Montreal.
Alongside the NDP’s critic for women and gender equality, Leah Gazan, Singh addressed the importance of having “the right to choose” when it comes to reproductive health services and having adequate access to ensure this right can be fulfilled.
In their motion, the Party aims to push against “the creep of anti-choice bills, petitions and threats in Canada” while ensuring citizens can exercise reproductive rights universally.
Singh compared the NDP’s intensified approach to securing reproductive rights and the anti-choice values held by members of the Progressive Conservative Party.
Citing former Conservative MP Alain Rayes, Singh said there are “serious threats” to abortion access under Pierre Poilievre and the Conservatives, saying that the MPs who do not believe in the right to choose an abortion are “often calling the shots.”
“[Poilievre] has let his MPs bring in anti-choice laws, anti-choice motions, they’ve spoken [at] and attended anti-choice organizations in the States and in Canada. So, there is a real threat from the Conservatives,” said Singh.
Singh then turned to discussing how Justin Trudeau and the Liberals have handled the topic of reproductive rights.
Despite attempts to “sound like they care,” Singh said that abortion access has become increasingly difficult during the Liberals’ nine years in office, circulating back to his argument that the right to choose an abortion is only available if access to reproductive health services is widespread and strong.
Referring back to the state that reproductive justice is in between his two opposing parties, Singh said that the NDP will use their next opposition day to table a motion calling for “urgent action to expand access to abortion services,” asking the federal government to refer to the Canada Health Act to provide universal access to abortion care.
“We know that these rights are precarious, and we have to remain vigilant to defend them,” said Singh.
Singh turned things over to Gazan to discuss the issue from her specialized perspective.
Gazan said that Canada’s public healthcare system is “under attack,” calling out the Liberal government for advocating for the right to choose an abortion while presenting a lack of notable progress to defend this right.
“Although [the Liberals] talk about abortion being a right, they have failed time and time again to uphold the Canada Health Act which is supposed to ensure all people across Canada do not have financial or other barriers that limit those rights,” said Gazan.
She cited the attempts to privatize healthcare in Canada as a major threat to reproductive rights, asking if citizens desire to “go back to a time where people are dying to get the healthcare they need?”
Gazan also said Poilievre’s statement that he is pro-choice is false as she says he has voted for backdoor legislation criminalizing abortion services and provided support for motions that demonstrate beliefs working against the right to an abortion.
Singh says that his plan to dedicate the NDP’s next opposition day to securing reproductive rights instead of using their time to push forward a vote of non-confidence in the Prime Minister is an effort to “get things done for people” and to make progress in Parliament on issues that matter to the party.
Singh and Gazan’s announcement can be watched in full on the CPAC website.