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Decentralized Democracy

House Hansard - 320

44th Parl. 1st Sess.
May 29, 2024 02:00PM
Context: House Hansard - 320 - May/29/24
Mr. Peter Julian
  • May/29/24 8:52:35 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, now I will move on to women's health care. Abortion is health care, and the Liberals promised to expand access to sexual and reproductive health. Abortion care is still inaccessible for far too many women, especially in northern and rural communities. Clinic 554 in Fredericton, the last remaining abortion clinic in New Brunswick, closed its doors earlier this year. Can the minister explain why the government failed to save Clinic 554 and what his government is doing to hold provinces accountable when they restrict abortion care? When will the government re-establish abortion care in New Brunswick?
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Context: House Hansard - 320 - May/29/24
Hon. Patty Hajdu
  • May/29/24 11:49:15 p.m.
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Madam Chair, contraceptives are not universally accessible, despite being a mainstay of reproductive choice. I cannot imagine my life if I had not been able to choose when I would have children, and yet Conservative members of Parliament have voted against this measure, as well as many of them being greenlit by anti-choice organizations. Women are depending on the Canadian government to protect their freedom. How will this coverage help?
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Context: House Hansard - 320 - May/29/24
Hon. Mark Holland
  • May/29/24 11:49:47 p.m.
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Madam Chair, I thank my friend and colleague for her advocacy in this space, both in her public and private life. The truth is that it is very frustrating, beyond frustrating, to watch some of the members across the way who hold three positions simultaneously. First, they are against choice. They believe that a woman should not have autonomy over her own body and make a choice with respect to abortion. Second, they are voting against women being able to have access to the contraceptive medicine they need to be able to make their own choice about their body and when they would start a family. Third, they will not speak openly or honestly about sex or sexual education. If one is against all three of those things, then, plainly stated, one is against a woman's sexual freedom or health generally. We know that misinformation and stigma is disastrous. We also know that for too many women who do not have the means, they are forced into a circumstance, to use contraceptives that are available and are cheaper, but less effective. To give a very clear example, oral contraceptives have a failure rate of 9%. We know that an IUD has a failure rate of 0.2% but so many women cannot make the choice to have an IUD because it is too expensive, which means that they lose, in many instances, control over when they start their family. That is fundamentally about freedom. In my view, it is fundamentally wrong. I hope that the action we are taking here is seen as complementary to our action generally, to make sure that women have control over their sexual health and their reproductive freedom.
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