Conservative leader Pierre Poilievre has affirmed, once again, his unwavering commitment to abortion on demand in Canada, throughout all nine months of pregnancy—and this time, he extended that commitment, on behalf of the Conservative Party, to past his hypothetical tenure as prime minister.
“I can guarantee you there will be no laws restricting abortion past when I’m prime minister,” Poilievre stated emphatically at a rally. “For the past twenty years, the policy of the Conservative Party has been that there will be no restrictions brought in on a woman’s right to choose.”
“It’s been our policy since it was adopted by our party members in the year 2004,” he continued. “So this is a 21-year policy, adopted by our party members and upheld at all of our subsequent conventions. So there will be no laws or other restrictions imposed on a woman’s right to decide to do with her body as she wishes, and that is something I am guaranteeing to you, and to all Canadians.”
Poilievre is referring to Section 86 of the Conservative Party policy handbook, which states: “A Conservative Government will not support any legislation to regulate abortion.”
Previously, however, Conservative leaders tended to be more cautious, referring to “my government” rather than committing to specific policies into the future for the entire party, especially due to the fact that the Conservative Party has primarily been the only party that permits pro-life candidates.
In fact, Poilievre declined to mention several pro-life policies currently contained in the Conservative Party policy handbook, including:
A condemnation of sex-selective abortion
Excluding funding for abortion from overseas foreign aid
Prohibiting research using embryos
Support for legislation making it a separate crime to kill or injure an unborn child during a violent crime
Support for conscience rights for medical professionals
Indeed, earlier this week Poilievre also affirmed his pro-abortion views in a French language interview on a podcast hosted by Quebec entrepreneur Olivier Primeau. “Yes, we will never change the law on abortion, we have already adopted … a policy for the Conservative Party 20 years ago saying that we will never change the rules or laws to restrict abortion,” Poilievre stated. As LSN reported on April 10, the comments immediately sparked a backlash from Canadian pro-life leaders.
In what will likely be a tight election race, Poilievre is clearly making a deliberate calculation: the potential suppression of the social conservative vote is less of a threat than losing votes in pro-abortion Quebec or from skittish Canadians who view Poilievre, ironically, as a far-right figure. In fact, over 80% of Canadians are unaware of the fact that abortion is legal in Canada up until birth, the only democracy in the world where feticide is permitted when the child is full-term and healthy.
In fact, pro-life groups have recruited over 1,000 volunteers for pro-life candidates in this election cycle, many of them in swing ridings. Poilievre presumably believes that ten years of Liberal rule has been so brutal for social conservatives that they will turn up nonetheless. He may well be right, especially considering the fact that the Conservative Party has staked out a badly-needed position on euthanasia for those struggling with mental illness.
But he has also made himself crystal clear: as long as he has anything to say about it, the Conservative Party will be in full support of the Western world’s most extreme abortion regime: Take it or leave it.
