Login / RegisterKelowna mayor Walter Gray receives a blast from pro-choice movement over "Right to Life Week"
The Abortion Rights Coalition of Canada has joined with Kelowna activists and others from across Canada to object to the City of Kelowna's "Protect Human Life Week".
ARCC's executive director, Joyce Arthur, has claimed in a statement that this proclamation must be rescinded "because it strongly implies that Kelowna does not respect women's legal and constitutional rights".
Numerous people have signed the following letter, which has been sent to Mayor Walter Gray.
Dear Mayor Walter Gray,
The signatories to this letter object to the proclamation you issued on July 3 declaring September 23-30, 2012 as “Protect Human Life Week.” This proclamation, issued at the request of the Kelowna Right to Life Society, is highly inappropriate and should be rescinded immediately.
When the city states: “It is the intention of this proclamation to promote respect and protection to all human life, especially the infirm, the aged, the handicapped, and the unborn,” it is an implicit endorsement of the Kelowna Right to Life Society’s opposition to safe and legal abortion for women. A quick perusal of the Society’s website makes clear that it is a radical political and religious group primarily concerned with opposing and re-criminalizing abortion, not with protecting the infirm, aged, handicapped, or even babies. A majority of Canadians support legal abortion, and our Supreme Court has struck down the previous abortion law as contravening women’s constitutional rights. Therefore, no municipality should make a public statement supporting an organization that is intent on reversing women’s guaranteed rights to “life, liberty, and security of person” under the Charter of Rights and Freedoms. Since the City of Kelowna has no legal jurisdiction to change federal or provincial laws on abortion (or anything else), it has no valid reason to issue the proclamation.
“Protect Human Life Week” is deeply offensive and upsetting to many people in Kelowna and across Canada, particularly women who have had or who are considering an abortion. It is wrong for the city to make proclamations that disregard women’s rights and make women feel disrespected and intimidated.
Although the city has issued this same proclamation in years past, it was never appropriate to do so because of its disregard for and opposition to established human rights under the law, and because it leads the city to improperly intrude into matters of federal or provincial law. Just as the “PRO-LIFE” flag will not be flown, all public support for “Protect Human Life Week” must now be withdrawn. We call upon you to rescind immediately the proclamation of “Protect Human Life Week” and to refrain from issuing it in future years.
Sincerely,
Signatories:
Joyce Arthur, Executive Director, Abortion Rights Coalition of Canada
Board of Directors, Abortion Rights Coalition of Canada
Dianne Varga, writer and activist, Kelowna
Kristin Staley, Summerland
Anne-Marie Brun, Kelowna
Jennifer Pickering, Kelowna
Susan Davenport, Kelowna
Kelly Megyesi, Vernon
Dr. Jennifer Gustar, Associate Professor, UBC, Okanagan Campus, Kelowna
Susan E. Morrison, Kelowna and District Pro-choice Action Society, Kelowna
Lören Price, Centre for Inquiry, Okanagan
Zena Ryder, Centre for Inquiry, Okanagan
Penney Kome, author, award-winning journalist, and Editor of StraightGoods.com
Dr. Ellen Wiebe, Clinical Professor, Reproductive Health, UBC; Medical Director at Willow Women’s Clinic, Vancouver
Jane Cawthorne, author, playwright, blogger, Calgary
Dr. Colleen MacQuarrie, Associate Professor, Graduate Faculty, Psychology Department, University of Prince Edward Island
Dr. M.K. Bryson, Director, Institute for Gender, Race, Sexuality and Social Justice (GRSJ); Professor, Department of Language and Literacy Education (LLED), UBC
Michael Payton, Executive Director, Centre for Free Inquiry, Toronto
Marilyn Roycroft, Acting Executive Director, Legal Education and Action Fund (LEAF), Toronto
Laura Track, Legal Director, West Coast Legal Education and Action Fund (LEAF), Vancouver
Dr. A. Brenda Anderson, Assistant Professor, Women's and Gender Studies, Religious Studies, Luther College, University of Regina
Dr. Darlene Juschka, Coordinator and Associate Professor, Women's and Gender Studies, Religious Studies, University of Regina
Jennifer J. Breakspear, Executive Director, Options for Sexual Health, Vancouver
Anne Rochon Ford, Executive Director, Canadian Women's Health Network
Ian Bushfield, Executive Director, BC Humanist Association
Board of Directors, BC Humanist Association
Vancouver Women’s Health Collective, Vancouver
Radical Handmaids, Ottawa
I dunno, I would almost rather that wingnuts 'out' themselves to help the voters make an informed choice.
Just for argument's sake, uf Walter Grey wants to proclaim "I Support Reversing Your Constitutional Rights Day", "Al Qaida Is Awesome Day," or "The Beatles Are Nothing Compared to Chad Kroeger Day," thus resulting in bewildered, irritated opposition from the sanity-based community, what's the problem? Isn't it all healthy debate?
I have to say, I don't like the fact that I'm missing a heck of a lot of my generation. Lots of friends and tax payers, and baby women who have rights too were dismissed before they could move locations from inside to outside their mama...
That's what banning or severely restricting abortion amounts to. The state forcing a woman what to do with her body.
A simple point overlooked, and a precedent that must not be set. Maybe one day when a fetus can be removed from the uterus without any sort of invasive procedure laws, pertaining to such things *might* make sense. That day isn't even on the horizon.
For all other circumstances, free spaying and neutering needs to be offered for humans. We do it to animals, why not humans?
they abolish child poverty? Their moral responsibility is over after 9 months
then where are they?