Right wing attempts to rob women of their hard-won rights is simply wrong
To the Expositor:
Heading into an election, we are seeing people playing fast and loose with language. Meant to clarify, language is being more often used these days to confuse and/or deceive.
For example, a political party that used to properly lay claim to being at least sometimes “right wing” is more often today, in its thinking, speech and actions, so very “wrong.” More about that later.
As well, some people claim they are pro-life but mean only as far as they are working to take away a woman’s hard won right to make choices where her body is concerned.
But if that is as far as being pro-life goes, then all you are, really, is anti-choice. Being pro-life would imply being anti-death penalty, mercy killing, ownership of military grade weaponry, as well as abortion.
Even more important is that you can point to evidence of your efforts to provide real support for all the children who, because of your efforts, come into this world, especially those with physical and mental issues that put them in need of extra help to experience even a mere version of your good life.
That would mean your revolting against governments whose first solution to addressing debt and/or deficits is the cutting of funding to programs that improve the lives of these innocent and vulnerable children. Then I will believe that you are pro-life.
Otherwise, if you profess to be pro-life, but are also pro death penalty and ownership of military assault rifles, or do not stand up against cuts to social programs being used to solve fiscal problems, to clarify your position on the issue of abortion, be prepared to call yourself simply, and more accurately, anti-choice.
And never forget that if you are successful in robbing women of the right to reject motherhood that has been forced upon them, you should not be surprised if, someday, a different authoritarian government claims the right to tell women who long for children that they cannot have them because there are too many people in the country already that are threatening the economy and the environment.
Think how outraged you would be then, if you were robbed of the choice to be a mother.
This makes the argument that every woman should be able to make the choice for herself of whether to bear children or not. No one, male or female, has the right to tell any woman whether she must or must not bear children.
Thus my fear and fury, as the right to choose what makes sense to a woman in her unique and very personal journey through life is eroded more and more every day in America. This is being accomplished by legislation, often gleefully signed into law, in state after state, mostly by vindictive, misogynistic and hypocritical men.
So far, so good for Canadian women. But do not become complacent. Forces are afoot here looking to reverse all the strides we have made since 1988 in claiming and retaining women’s reproductive rights enshrined in Section Seven of our Canadian constitution.
The so-called “right” wing party is poised, despite insincere protests to the contrary, to follow in the footsteps of the misogynistic lawmakers of America. Doug Ford, perhaps one of the best examples of the worst kind of new conservative, within a year of his election, declared that a rise in gas prices was the fault of a carbon tax laid on provinces too lazy to draft and submit a plan to the federal government for reducing carbon emissions in our province.
Not only is he wasting $30,000,000 of our hard-earned tax dollars in lawyers’ fees to fight the tax, but he is forcing gas stations to post a sticker on all Ontario gas pumps that blames the federal government for the rise in prices, without adding the information that Ontario customers will pay an average of $256 and get an average rebate of $300. Hard to trust such a person with our money or the truth.
If the new conservatives, under Scheer, cut definitively from the same cloth as Ford, no matter how much he may deny it, win the October election in Canada, I do not trust them to follow through on a promise to maintain the status quo regarding women’s reproductive rights. On the contrary, given the current world-wide political climate, I believe we would see the erosion of these rights rapidly move very high on the Conservative to-do list, to preserve the loyalty of their constituents.
No bones about it, these days, I do not trust this party, provincially or federally. to be the least bit fair, just, compassionate, honest or transparent in their dealings on a broad range of issues, with a broad range of people who live in Canada.
The fact that it seems to be the only party seeking power that the bigots, xenophobes, white supremacists, homophobes, racists, and especially misogynists feel or know might be receptive to their cynical, jaded way of operating in this world, speaks volumes about the danger the new Conservative party poses to our entire way of life.
That is why they must not be elected. It is up to all fair-minded, reasonable, and responsible Canadians to let the so-called “right” wing know, just for starters, if they think we will allow them to strip women of their hard-earned right to choose their destinies, they could not be more “wrong”!
Sincerely,
Deborah Wilson
Honora Bay
