The Liberals are playing wedge politics again. They’ve released yet another in a long line of official attempts-to-save-their-arse announcements. This time, they’re letting Canadians know that they’ve had enough of pregnancy counselling centres that provide information about abortion — regardless of their faith — but do not offer referrals for the procedure. No more charitable tax status for you!, the Liberals announced. Unless these clinics give in and go against their religious beliefs.
The announcement from Finance Minister Chrystia Freeland was so strange that when I first read about it, I had no idea what they were talking about. The issue she described sounded so pervasive, so serious and important. The truth of the matter, as is often the case with the Liberals, is entirely different.
Yet, the background of the official statement makes the situation sound dire: “Concerns have been raised that some registered charities that offer reproductive health services to women, including pregnancy options counselling, may be spreading misinformation by presenting themselves as neutral, full-service pregnancy support service organizations when they are in fact anti-choice organizations that push women away from accessing the reproductive care of their choice.”
The Liberals are suggesting that this is happening to women, yet this serious announcement was not accompanied by facts or figures about the severity of this problem that supposedly requires the revocation of charitable status. And, as we all know, the Liberals are great at proposing answers to problems that don’t actually exist.
So, what are these faith-based clinics like, anyway? Since the Liberal government did not provide a list of serious offenders and offences, I went looking myself.
I found Pregnancy Care Centre whose website also says they have served over 15,000 women over 40 years, assumedly without issue. It mentions Christ, and its stated mission is to “provide compassionate community support to women and families facing an unexpected pregnancy so that they can thrive without seeing abortion as their only option.” What absolute monsters!
Right away, their website lets visitors know that they are not a medical clinic, and that they do not provide or assist in arranging abortions. Well then, that would save someone who was actually looking for an abortion some time, it would seem.
While I haven’t investigated all clinics, this one certainly isn’t representing itself as neutral. Despite the site’s faith-based declaration, the clinic does provide information and counselling about abortion, but does not specifically offer referrals for abortions. The Liberals are not impressed, though, because, let’s face it, this clinic’s approach is Christian. The Liberals don’t seem to care much for their churches either. Coincidence? I think not.
Here’s the thing. There are obviously women out there who can read websites, are Christian, and want this kind of approach. What does it say about this Liberal government that they would like to take faith-based pregnancy counselling away from them?
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