War, death penalty, assisted suicide, abortion–these are all what one calls conscience issues.
Pursuant to Order made Tuesday, June 16, 2015, the House proceeded to the taking of the deferred recorded division on the motion of Mr. Komarnicki (Souris—Moose Mountain), seconded by Mr. Payne (Medicine Hat), — That, in the opinion of the House, all Members of Parliament should be allowed to vote freely on all matters of conscience. (Private Members’ Business M-590)
Harper allows for conscience rights by never allowing any MP to raise the issue:
As you know, in our party, as in any broadly based party, there are people with a range of views on this issue,” Harper said. “But I think I’ve been very clear as party leader.… As long as I’m prime minister we are not reopening the abortion debate.”
The NDP–ever so open to conscience here, too:
The NDP believes that “it’s not debatable, it’s not negotiable, it is a woman’s right to determine her own health questions and her own reproductive choices,” Mulcair said.
And no one can forget this from Justin Trudeau:
Justin Trudeau paused, looked over the heads of reporters, and started to respond three times before finally spitting out the surprise announcement that Liberal MPs elected in 2015 would be expected to vote against putting limits on abortion.
I suppose the only way to vote for conscience rights and then be stridently pro-choice is to ensure no pro-lifer ever enters your party. And if they have a change of heart while sitting as an MP, then you boot them out or shut them up. Conscience rights. What does that even mean? I suspect these days, there are a great many people who believe it means not entering politics.
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Melissa says
Where are the reporters who would point out the discrepancy and ask our fearsome leaders about it? Would any of them have the audacity to state that abortion is not a conscience issue?