Thank you, Mr. Chair.
I would first like to note that I will be sharing my time with my colleague from Shefford.
Witnesses, thank you for your introductions.
Oxfam Canada representatives, you have clearly demonstrated that lack of safe access to abortion services does not reduce the number of abortions, but increases unsafe abortions.
In 2021, the World Health Organization's website published an article about abortion. It explains the following: “Barriers to accessing safe and respectful abortion include high costs, stigma for those seeking abortions and health care workers, and the refusal of health workers to provide an abortion based on personal conscience or religious belief.”
During your presentation, we learned that, through two programs, you operate in countries such as Honduras, Bolivia, Ghana, the Democratic Republic of Congo, Jordan, Lebanon, the occupied Palestinian territories, Ethiopia, Malawi, Mozambique and Zambia. Yet this week, the committee heard from two witnesses telling us that western support for safe and respectful abortions would be a form of neo-colonialism that would run counter to the cultural values of the countries we are engaging with.
Based on your experience in all the countries I just mentioned, what kind of resistance do you encounter culturally that prevents you from doing your work properly?