Mr. Speaker, I am proud to rise today to support what the NDP has fought for. It is the beginning of a pharmacare plan that will start with one of the things the NDP has championed for years: the reproductive rights of women and people who menstruate. It is a significant step forward to promote reproductive rights for women and gender-diverse people in Canada; we know, for far too long, leaders have neglected calls to improve reproductive health services. In this room today, I have heard Conservatives saying such things as that we already pay for abortion; they know very well that even the Liberal government still does not provide access to safe, trauma-informed abortion care. We are talking about the gamut of reproductive rights; that includes the ability, if one so chooses, to access contraception.
I used to be a high school sex ed teacher. One thing we would talk to the kids about was choice and how to protect themselves and their reproductive rights should they want to avoid pregnancy. I know there are Conservatives smiling because the discussion around sex, abortion and contraception is a difficult one, but these are important open discussions that we have to have, especially as we change into a society that is becoming much more inclusive in our gender diversity. I support that. The bill would allow nine million people of reproductive age in Canada to access contraception, providing them with reproductive autonomy and reducing the risk of unintended pregnancies.
However, we know that bodily autonomy is currently under attack. We have heard in the House, in fact, petitions that have been put on the floor by the Conservative Party that attack the trans community. The March for Life is happening on Thursday, and I wonder which Conservative faces we will see again this year at the campaign. Just as the colleague across the way said, the Campaign Life Coalition has labelled the Conservatives anti-choice. This is not surprising, because in this very session of Parliament, Bill C-311 was named a backdoor anti-abortion legislation in the name of so-called violence, even though it was not supported by any women's groups working with women and gender-diverse people who are experiencing violence.
The bill is also a major win for promoting the rights of economic empowerment for women and gender-diverse people in Canada. We have a right to choose what we want to do with our own bodies. I find it disturbing that, in 2024, most of the people opposing the bill in the House on the Conservative side are not even impacted by it. I do not know many men in the House who have to run to the drugstore to get birth control pills or have to use diaphragms or IUDs. This is a gender-specific issue for women and gender-diverse people. It is really appalling, because the very Conservative opposition that is talking about freedom, with a leader who talks about freedom, does not believe in freedom when it comes to bodily autonomy. The member for Carleton does not believe in freedom of religion, with the kind of Islamophobic, visceral garbage I have to hear on that side. Now they are directly attacking women's right to choose.
