A lifelong pro-choice advocate, Vancouver South MP Ujjal Dosanjh told the Straight March 25 that he has not become a pro-lifer. The denial came after John Hof, the leader of B.C.’s anti-abortion lobby group “welcomed” Dosanjh to the movement in the February 2008 Campaign Life Coalition B.C. newsletter. Dosanjh’s office staff had not heard about Hof’s newsletter statements until the Straight brought it to their attention.

“I think this is a bit of mischief on Mr. Hof’s part,” Dosanjh said in a phone interview from Ottawa. “He’s playing fast and loose with my words. I never intended to convey support for his movement.”

According to the article, Hof had encountered Dosanjh’s dismayed comments on the abortion of female fetuses in the South Asian community.

“On behalf of the pro-life movement,” Hof is quoted as saying, “I would like to welcome you half way home. Now that we have you opposed to eliminating girl babies before birth, perhaps we can start talking about the other 50% of abortions. Those done on little boy babies.”

Dosanjh said he has been pro-choice all his life, and he’s not about to change his mind, even in light of the gender-specific abortions of which he said he’s aware. A woman’s right to choose, he said, “is paramount”.

However, he said he does not support gender selection, which he called, “absolutely inappropriate” and “contemptible”. Yet, he also thinks women seeking abortions in Canada should not have to say why they want one.

“That’s between her and her medical advisors,” he said.

See also, Stoking B.C.'s abortion rate.