I received the below email from RebELLEs. I would like to make a few comments about this to our dear prime minister. I will be sending the following letter along with a hanger to our Prime Minister.


Mr Harper,

You are hurting good programs worldwide for a ridiculous reason. Cutting programs because they support abortion is dumb for a large number of reasons. Here are a few.

1 - Using your morals to guide you in governing is good. Unfortunately, this is not using your morals to guide you in governing. This is using a hot topic to win votes at the cost of something that can actually help people. Want to do some good in the world, honorable Stephen? Increase our aid funding to .7% like our government promised years ago, and add the money to whichever programs you like, but don't cut existing programs for an arbitrary reason.

2 - Cutting abortion programs overseas when you don't have the guts to make a similar move in Canada, where you actually are supposed to be governing is cowardice at its finest. We need to have an actual conversation about this in Canada, not run away from it. If this is not a topic Canadians can deal with in Canada, how is it even remotely democratic to enforce programs in other countries to stop providing abortion services?

3 - Does anyone think that cutting funding to abortions will actually stop abortions? Really? Will desperate people become less desperate because there is no safe place to have an abortion? Will they decide to move to the suburbs, marry a guy who has a decent job, a hybrid SUV, and a clean yard? No. They will continue to live in desperate situations, and now they won't be able to have an abortion, and even if they didn't want an abortion, they now cannot get maternal health care because that program was cut for offering abortions. Which was fine for them to do until this week. Good job.

Sincerely,

Charlie


I felt I should write this, not because I support abortions, but because Canadians need to see beyond the petty politics, and speak out when our nation's already small amount of funding is squandered on making our PM seem relevant. I understand that "foreign aid" will always mean "foreign support to countries where we have social, political, and economic interests" but we need to, as Canadians, ask ourselves:
- Do we really want our foreign aid to be fickle?
- Are we willing to allow our aid to only accomplish small and insignificant things in the world, in order to help our favorite political party gain power and votes?
- Are we willing to ignore the rest of the world in order to achieve something akin to the American Dream (a dream which is wearing quite thin these days, i might add)?

I hope the answer is no.

Am I wrong? Am I right? Does stopping funding to programs that support abortions help in more ways than I admit? let me know, submit a comment, or send me an email!





The email that started it all:

Hello RebELLEs and allies,

Following is an action created by our feminist sister on facebook. This is a simple yet powerful action that most of us can do. If you are able to, please don't delay and act now. Send Harper a hanger!

Also, don't forget to distribute in your networks.

In feminist solidarity,
Y.

Send Stephen Harper your coat hangers for sexual and reproductive choice
http://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=122034441157484&ref=mf
As you all may or may not know, Stephen Harper and the Conservative government in Canada have decided to eliminate foreign aid funding under ANY circumstance for abortions in the developing world. All this has taken place while they are attempting to put forward a maternal health initiative at the upcoming G8 summit. The fact that abortion is being moralized by our government rather than being seen as a significant aspect of maternal health completely undermines any initiatives they would consider implementing.

The Abortion Rights Coalition of Canada created a petition (which I urge you all to sign over at http://www.gopetition.com/petitions/safe-abortion.html). Outlined in this document, as well as on their website, are a number of reasons to support the provision of safe and accessible abortions to womyn in the developing world. Some of the statistics are quite shocking and make it very clear that safe and accessible abortions are a fundamental aspect to maternal health initiatives.

- 215 million womyn in the developing world have an unmet need for contraception (meaning they want to avoid pregnancy, but are using either ineffective or no means at all)
- the ability of a womyn to limit and space her pregnancies has a direct impact on her overall health and well-being, as well as that of her children
- 19-20 million womyn around the globe resort to unsafe abortions every year
-70 000 womyn die every year from unsafe abortions, and another 8 million experience severe complications
- 20 000 children lose their mothers every year due to unsafe abortion related deaths, making them 10 times more likely to die within the following 2 years of their mothers death.

So this is a call to all of you womyn, and allies out there, to support the rights of our sisters across the globe. I’m urging you all to send Stephen Harper a coat hanger in the mail, as a means of illustrating the methods that womyn across the world will have to resort to in order to obtain abortions due to the changes in the Conservative governments policy around foreign aid. And don’t hesitate to be creative, include a well written letter, poetry, turn it into an art project, use whatever ideas you have and don’t hesitate to post pictures in the event! And please, spread this message widely!


Mail can be sent free of charge (meaning you won’t have to pay for stamps) to Stephen Harper at the following address!

Stephen Harper
House of Commons
Parliament Buildings
Ottawa, Ontario
Canada
K1A 0A6