Mr. Speaker, I will start by saying that this is an important, productive debate. When we see the backsliding not only south of the border but also here in Canada, it is critical that we rise in the House to discuss the issue of a woman's fundamental right to choose. This is foundational to gender equity, to public health and to human dignity.
Access to abortion care is health care, both here in Canada and around the world. This is a conversation about rights. It is not abstract principles. It is the lived experience of women and gender-diverse people, as well as the tangible rights of these people in our country. Canada has been a leader in affirming abortion as a fundamental right. In 1988, the Supreme Court's decision struck down restrictive abortion laws as unconstitutional.
The Conservatives like to talk about freedom. They wave freedom flags, but when it comes to the freedom of a woman to make choices about her own body, about our own bodies, for some reason, those freedoms are up for grabs. The majority of Conservative MPs are anti-choice. One-third of them are openly campaigning on anti-choice legislation and are endorsed by anti-choice organizations. However, if we look at their voting records, we see that the vast majority of them are anti-choice. According to the Abortion Rights Coalition of Canada, 100% of Conservative MPs are anti-choice, given their recent vote on backdoor legislation.
Bill C-311 is very similar to the bills down south that Republican elected officials used to undermine Roe v. Wade. We are seeing the same tactics in Canada. Of course, the Conservative leader is saying that Conservatives promise they will not support legislation that bans abortion. This is despite the fact that the Conservative leader voted five times in favour of legislation that would restrict access to choice or voted in favour of anti-choice bills, such as Bill C-311. However, we know that his intention is to cut health care, services and funding internationally for reproductive rights, as the Harper government did when the Conservative leader was a minister in that government.
Anti-choice rhetoric is finding a firmer foothold here in Canada. It is amplified in the House by the Conservative members. It is paraded around by such members as the member for Peace River—Westlock, who went outside the House of Commons to anti-choice rallies and made commitments to his supporters, to the supporters of the Conservative Party, to fight to end a woman's right to choose and to restrict access to choice, to health care for women and for gender-diverse people across this country. He is not the only Conservative MP to do so.
The MP for Cypress Hills—Grasslands took a paid trip down to a church in the United States. A pro-life, anti-choice church brought him down to speak about his stance on trying to end a woman's right to choose. To have Conservative MPs going to the United States to learn new tactics, to collaborate, to organize with anti-choice activists there and to bring that back to Canada is terrifying. It is terrifying to me, and I think it is terrifying to women across this country.
I also want to bring up the MP for Sherwood Park—Fort Saskatchewan. Not only has the member been vocal about being against a woman's right to choose, but he also spent 18 hours filibustering this report because he did not want to talk about the fundamental right of women in Canada and around the world to access abortion care.
It tracks that the Conservatives want to cut funding for reproductive rights. Abortion care is health care. Whether it is for a broken leg, heart surgery or abortion care, Canadians need access to health care, to quality health care across this country. Conservatives have a track record of cutting that.
Unfortunately the Liberals have a track record of failing to uphold the Canada Health Act. I have spoken about this in the House before. About two decades ago I was sitting with a friend in New Brunswick, in grade 11, talking about the multi-hour drive to Montreal she would have to take if she wanted to access abortion. I am getting choked up because it is a horrific reality that so many women in Canada face when they do not have access to the care they need.
I could not have imagined that two decades later, Clinic 554 in Fredericton, New Brunswick, would close and that the Liberal government would not use the provisions in the Canada Health Act that it knows it could use to ensure access for all women in British Columbia and for all people across this country. Our health care system guarantees Canadians the right to access medically necessary services. Abortion is that kind of service, yet those kinds of clinic closures demonstrate the fragility of access to care.
I think about women and gender diverse people in Alberta, whose provincial Conservatives have outsourced health care to private institutions and religious institutions that will not provide contraception and abortion care to the women who need them. Those are systemic barriers that hinder equitable access. The lack of leadership from the federal government to enforce the Canada Health Act makes these barriers worse.
I also want to talk about our responsibility globally. We need to demonstrate leadership when it comes to prioritizing sexual health and reproductive health on the global stage, including through our international assistance policy. We know about the cuts that happened during the Harper era. The Harper government cut all funding to reproductive health, reproductive services and sexual health services around the globe. Canada has a responsibility to step up to support nations around the world in accessing health care and reproductive care.
I find it difficult when Conservative members talk about the rights of the unborn or try to sneak legislation in that has increased penalties for the murder of pregnant women or the harm of an unborn child. Evidence shows that limiting access to abortions or restricting women's choice does not stop abortions; it just means that unsafe abortions happen.
When we restrict comprehensive reproductive health services, everyone suffers. When we ensure that access exists, societies prosper. Investing in the services reduces maternal mortality, improves economic opportunities for women and promotes equality.
It is our duty as parliamentarians to protect and promote these rights. We cannot allow a vocal minority in Canada that has influence over the official opposition to undermine these rights. We cannot allow it to undermine decades of work that feminist organizations and people across Canada have fought to protect. We must act decisively. We need to ensure compliance, enforce the Canada Health Act, ensure that we are eliminating any kind of user fee and provide equitable abortion access in every province.
We need to invest strategically and expand funding for clinics and services in rural and underserved areas. We need to ensure that midwives, nurse practitioners, nurses and family doctors are available for people when they need assistance with their reproductive health.
We need to combat misinformation, challenge the anti-choice narratives and ensure that facts are brought into the House and that we have rights-driven education campaigns. We must not allow backdoor legislation to undermine these rights, and we must not allow the vocal minority that wants to undermine our right to choose to have influence over the decisions of the House.
Access to abortion is a domestic issue, but the report focuses on the global issue of human rights with respect to public health. Around the world, millions of women face unsafe abortions because of restrictive laws, lack of resources and systemic inequalities. Each year, 35 million unsafe abortions occur globally. That is a horrific statistic. Unsafe abortions lead to preventable deaths and life-altering injuries. Canada must be a global leader in supporting sexual and reproductive health.
It is terrifying to think of what Conservatives would do to abortion rights here in Canada if they were in power. It is horrific to think about the consequences of the cuts they would make to international assistance around the world and what that would mean for women who are trying to access reproductive care.
The world is at a crossroads. Some countries are advancing abortion rights, but others, and I think we see this in the Conservative caucus, are emboldened by movements in the United States to overturn Roe v. Wade. There is a backslide happening. Our leadership at this moment matters. By standing firm, Canada can continue to support the global efforts to ensure that every woman and every person, including all gender diverse people everywhere, has the right to make decisions about their own body.
We have talked before about Conservative creep for this kind of legislation, the changes in tone and rhetoric and also the changes to the laws that would have a fundamental impact on people's right to choose. I want to speak directly to young women and young gender diverse people who might be looking at the prospect of the Conservatives' getting into power and undermining their rights. Their voice right now matters. Their organizing matters. Standing up for their right to choose matters. It matters to have these discussions in the House.
I am disappointed that the Bloc decided to try to kill the debate. I am not surprised that the Conservatives would do that. I know there are staunch supporters in the Bloc of a woman's right to choose, but I am still disappointed that at this moment, when we are at a crossroads on reproductive and sexual health, the Bloc would do that, especially given that every other time a motion like the one before us has come up to return to orders of the day, 36 times its members voted against it. I thought it was a matter of principle, but then the one time that they vote to kill debate is on a woman's right to choose.
New Democrats will always stand in unwavering support of abortion rights. We will not let regressive policies and regressive members of Parliament take us backward. We will fight back against the misinformation and the rhetoric that try to undermine our fundamental rights.
We will stand up for investments in health care. Every Canadian deserves quality health care and deserves to access the health care they need when they need it. Abortion care is health care.
Together let us affirm the right to choose, not as a procedural tactic and not as something to bring up in order to score political points, but as a cornerstone of gender equality. It is a non-negotiable. The time to act is now. I do not want Conservatives or Bloc members to avoid a vote on it.
Therefore I move:
That the question be now put.
