By Nathan Rumohr
OTTAWA
Conservative MP Stephen Woodworth speaks the end of the second hour of debate on Motion 312.
OTTAWA
Conservative MP Stephen Woodworth speaks the end of the second hour of debate on Motion 312.Stephen Woodworth invited fellow Parliamentarians to join him in a conversation on reconciling views on personhood. The Conservative MP from Kitchener Centre gave an impassioned speech Sept. 21 at the end of the second hour of debate on his proposed Motion 312, which he argued upholds Canada's commitment to human rights.
"Our great democracy was founded on the promise that two founding nations in conflict can reconcile their conflicts peaceably," Woodworth said. "Generations of Canadians have lived and died to defend the dream of universal human rights and honest laws so necessary to fulfill that promise."
He said Canadian ideals have been created by unity out of diversity, and Canadians have continued to recognize the inherent worth and dignity of every human being.
"That bedrock foundation anchors Canada's essential character," he said. "We are here in Parliament for that vision of Canada. Motion 312 honours those essential duties."
Members of the Conservatives, Liberals, and the NDP also weighed in on the motion, which if passed would require a parliamentary committee to be set up to investigate the 400-year-old definition of a human being in use in this country. Many of them continued to accuse Woodworth and the Conservative Party of using Motion 312 as a back-door ploy to recriminalize abortion.
Motion 312 "is quite literally a slap in the face to women who fought long and hard for the right to control their own bodies and their ability to determine for themselves when they wish to have children," said NDP MP Irene Mathyssen.
She said Motion 312 would put Canada on a regressive path toward banning abortion, and added that Woodworth is confusing the debate by saying Canada's current definition of a human being is "an exclusion of a class of people."
"These types of statements distort the truth," Mathyssen asserted. She said over 90 per cent of abortions are done in the first trimester, and doctors do not perform abortions after 20 or 21 weeks "except for compelling health or genetic reasons."
Mathyssen said she was offended that Woodworth had "misrepresented the facts."
"A fertilized egg is a not a class of people, and I am offended the member (Woodworth) would shamelessly misrepresent the women's rights movement as an example of why we should open the door on changing abortion rights in Canada."
Woodworth addressed his critics by reminding them that feminist Judge Bertha Wilson, who wrote the judgment in the 1988 Morgentaler case, said she was leaving it up to Parliament to rewrite the law on abortion. He pointed out she had said Parliament should be informed in all relevant disciplines, something he said Motion 312 addresses.
Woodworth concluded by inviting parliamentarians to join him in discussing the personhood issue.
"I've heard some MPs are wrestling with their consciences over Motion 312," Woodworth said in a statement after the debate. "I say give in to your conscience; you are only useful to your leader, your party, and your constituents when you bring conscience and your ideas to your decisions."
nrumohr@rcav.org
