The "A" Word

Flying into Ottawa last night at midnight, the fog was severe enough that the plane was turned back to Toronto. Seated next to a computer analyst from Manitoba as we waited for our turn to book a seat on a later flight, we watched the suspended flatscreen as Saskatchewan Conservative MP Candace Hoeppner railed against the opposition parties. Accusing them of "crass political gamesmanship," she berated her opponents for introducing abortion through the subject of the child and maternal health debate that's been swirling through the Commons in the last few weeks. Though I'd never met him, the man seated next to me turned and said, "Man, she's bad Karma."Admittedly, all of us were a little grumpy from being turned around. The Conservatives have been somewhat down in the dumps themselves, as a result of the numerous flip-flops they undertook last week, rather ungraciously. Failing to acknowledge their own lack of clarity, they took to throwing Hoeppner on television in an attempt to change the channel.The subject of abortion is indeed divisive, even among the Liberal caucus. Yet the government's handling of the situation is actually what's propelling the divisiveness within the country. The issue was quietly tucked away until the PM announced that as a host of the G8/G20 summit meetings this summer, his government would exert leadership and attempt to push ahead the agenda of child and maternal health with our other partners. It was hard to criticize the venture, but the lack of substance in his statement prompted opposition parties and civil society groups to ask for clarification. What they got instead was the frustrating confusion of the last couple of months. First, the government said it would support family planning programs, as outlined in the Millennial Development Goals which all of our partners agreed to. Then both inside and outside the House, it was announced that family planning, including the use of contraceptives, wouldn't be supported. When it was finally confirmed last week that all options were still on the table, citizens, groups, and the Conservatives themselves suffered a collective kind of vertigo.But it is on the abortion issue that the Conservatives have done Canadians the most harm. The procedure is supported by our other partners as part of a panoply of measures designed to not only save the lives of millions of women, but also give them a chance to build on those lives. While Ms. Hoeppner accused the opposition parties of introducing the contentious issue, it was actually Mr. Harper himself who renewed the subject by initially announcing his child and maternal health initiative in the first place. Abortion was already a part of such practices by our other partners and so the opposition parties rightly queried as to whether that policy was still in place. Apparently not ... or maybe it is. Who knows?Did the PM not realize what was involved in the file? Did he not comprehend that his other partners, who he purports to lead this summer, include life-saving abortions in their own plans, as Canada has also historically supported? The introduction and confusion swirling around this matter has come from the government itself and now it can't square its own policy with that of the rest of the G8 - a sorry state.Trotting out Ms. Hoeppner to counter the vast majority of development and medical experts is hardly the action of a sophisticated government, aware of the complexities of the issue. Rather, it's an attempt to get you to refocus your sight on the opposition and away from the government's bungling. However you stand on the issue, Stephen Harper introduced abortion back into the House on his own initiative and he must bear that responsibility alone. Bad Karma indeed.