Why You Should Support M408

Barbara Kay:

Official condemnation by our government would help to erode the acceptance of this practice, in the same way that official condemnation of smoking through forced packaging information and public-service campaigns halved smoking rates. We would not be making sex-selective abortion illegal, but we would let people know that they are doing something destructive and shameful.

Partisanship should not stand in the way of the motion. Yet both NDP leader Thomas Mulcair and Liberal leader Bob Rae have voiced their disapproval of Mr. Warawa’s motion.

Mr. Rae claims there is a consensus among Canadians that abortion is a private matter. Not so: A 2011 Environics poll found that 92% of respondents opposed sex-selective abortion. And a January 2012 Angus Reid poll found about two-thirds of respondents (about half of them women) favoured laws prohibiting the practice.

Mr. Mulcair claims to find sex-selective abortion repugnant, but apparently fears that the motion is a stalking horse for legislation that will end in back alleys and coat hangers. It won’t: Stephen Harper has made it abundantly clear that he will not be legislating an abortion law. But fine. Let Mr. Mulcair propose his own all-party motion of condemnation, however he wants to word it — to which Mr. Warawa will happily sign on.

Silence is indifference. Gendercide is a hateful practice. Let that much at least be said.