Canada Political Candidates Oppose Abortion in Pro-Life Group’s Survey 
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by Steven Ertelt
LifeNews.com Editor
January 14, 2006
Ottawa, Canada (LifeNews.com) — Dozens of candidates from both Liberal and Conservative parties have signed a pledge of support sponsored by a pro-life group to back legislation in the Canadian parliament that would ban abortions. Abortion has become a divisive issue in the upcoming elections.
The pledges come at a time when Conservative Leader Stephen Harper has been trying to play down the abortion issue at a time when his party is making headway on capturing victory in the elections for the first time since former Prime Minister Brian Mulroney.
In March 2004, the party adopted a statement saying "a Conservative government will not initiate or support any legislation to regulate abortion" though many Conservative lawmakers take a pro-life position on abortion.
Liberal Leader Paul Martin has said his party will continue to support legalized abortion.
However, the Campaign Life Coalition has posted the response candidates from various political parties have given them to a nine question survey. The questionnaire covers abortion, euthanasia and human cloning.
Answering a question on protecting human life from conception, some 18 Conservative MPs, 24 Tory candidates, 10 Liberal MPs and two Liberal candidates gave a pro-life response agreeing with doing that, according to the Toronto Globe and Mail.
Most of the lawmakers and candidates also said they would support an effort to remove abortion from the list of medical procedures covered under the taxpayer funded Canada Health Act.
Mary Ellen Douglas, president of Campaign Life, told the Toronto newspaper she was pleased by the umber of responses and she hopes MPs will work together to limit abortion.
"I’m encouraged by the Liberals and Conservatives who have signed favorably. The thing is, we have pro-abortion Conservative candidates. So it’s not like if the Conservatives win we’re ecstatic here. We need candidates in all parties and then we’ll see what we have to work with after the 23rd," she said.
"That’s what we’re hoping for in this election, that there be that core in each party that you can work with, and then you can get somewhere," she told the Globe and Mail. "We won’t rest until there actually is a law to protect the unborn."
Douglas said two first priorities for her group are ending taxpayer funding of abortion and stopping the dangerous abortion drug RU 486 that has already killed four women in the United States and injured almost 700.
Related web sites:
Campaign Life Coalition – https://www.campaignlifecoalition.com
