NDP leader Jagmeet Singh arrives to Parliament Hill in Ottawa on Wednesday, Oct. 23, 2024. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Sean Kilpatrick
OTTAWA – The NDP is looking to push back against what it calls a “creep” of legislation, petitions and threats from the Conservatives aimed at reducing access to abortion.
Leader Jagmeet Singh says his party will use its next opposition day to force the House of Commons to debate and vote on a motion that calls for urgent action to improve abortion access.
Speaking in Montreal, Singh also called out the governing Liberals, saying they haven’t done enough to improve abortion access in Canada.
The NDP in its press release cited several examples of what it called “anti-choice” moves from the Tories, including a petition presented earlier this year by a Conservative MP that claimed more than 98 per cent of abortions “are for reasons of social or personal convenience.”
Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre said he disagreed with the petition, and has previously called himself “pro-choice” and said he would not pass laws that restrict reproductive choices if he is elected.
A Conservative MP also introduced a bill last year to encourage judges to consider a victim’s pregnancy as an aggravating factor in sentencing – something advocates said could be used to open up the abortion debate.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Oct. 24, 2024.
