- Harper is No Democrat

Submitted: 11:18, PDT, 31 Mar.'10 CBC News
Clinton backs contraception for maternal health, March 31, 2010, CBC News
http://www.cbc.ca/politics/story/2010/03/30/clinton-contraception.html

Wow, someone who is making a statement about family planning based on experience and rationality. As opposed to Stephen Harper and the Con's ideological 'we are going to impose our narrow, extreme right wing principles not just on Canada but the world'. But then, Hillary Clinton is not a extreme right wing Republican hanging desperately onto the regressive policies of GW Bush.

There are two things that should be noted about Clinton;'s statements:
"I have worked in this area for many years".

This is indicative of pragmatically based policies, designed to address a very series problem as opposed to inflict an ideology on people who desperately need help and so are vulnerable to such ideological assaults. The Harper approach is reminiscent of Soviet Union era approach to International affairs. It also is a very well developed strategy (Naomi Klein, "The Shock Doctrine") of right wing conservative extremism being able to capitalize on disasters.

"I do not think government should be involved in these decisions . . . it is perfectly legitimate for people to hold their own personal views based on conscience, religion or any other basis."

Right on (morally, that is) Hillary.

This, of course, is the position of many of the G8 governments and corresponds to my Blog "Mr. Harper - Canada is No Iran", 21 February, 2010:

"Canada is a secular society. When I ran as the Liberal candidate in '04 I made it clear that for me abortion is a matter of personal conscience. This is, of course, based, in part, on my strong belief in the necessity of separation of State and Church, basing Government polices on the realities and not ideology, and probably most important, acknowledging that there may be many, many people in Canada, and around the world, that simply don't subscribe to one particular system of religious beliefs - i.e. Canada is a tolerant, moderate, multi-faceted nation (of course, that's what separation of State and Church is all about)."

We are not Iran. Canada's political system is not a facade of Democratic process with the Executive being made up of religious extremists who wield the real power and make policy.

If abortion is not made available then women, especially young women, can find themselves in the hands of illegal butchers. It is my understanding that that is the point that Ignatieff was making; that is the point that the G8 countries are making; and, this is the point that the UK Department for International Development: "Unsafe abortion accounts for 13% of all maternal deaths and the hospitalization of a further five million women every year due to serious health complications".

(see: Old Comments: from Dec.'07 to Feb.'10 - link at Top-Right margin)

Lloyd MacILquham cicblog.com/comments.html