March 2nd is the day chosen for an international conference to fund groups that provide access to birth control, abortion and sex education in developing countries. The initiative was launched to make up the loss after U.S. President Donald Trump ordered a ban on funding to groups that perform abortions or provide information about abortions.
Conference named ‘She Decides’
Belgium will host an international conference called “She Decides.” So far, Belgium, the Netherlands and Denmark have pledged $32 million between them.
Canada will increase its funding too, said Minister of International Development Marie-Claude Bibeau. “I think that restricting the access to abortion does not reduce abortion. It only increases the number of unsafe abortions and it endangers the lives of women,” she told CBC Radio.
‘Women’s rights…too important’
The interviewer asked the minister if she was concerned about recriminations from the U.S. government. Bibeau said she was not. “Women’s rights is too important for us to make a compromise on that.”
That said, Bibeau added she was looking forward to meeting her U.S. counterpart and understood there would be subjects they would agree upon and others they would not.
Reverses previous Canadian government position
Lest Canadians become too smug about Canada’s position, it should be noted that the previous Canadian government under Prime Minister Stephen Harper made a similar move refusing to fund initiatives that offered abortion services or counselling.
Justin Trudeau and his Liberal Party vowed to change that during the election campaign in 2015. Once elected they proceeded to do so.
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