OTTAWA (CU)_A memo sent by Canada’s interim Conservative leader Candice Bergen on Tuesday (3 May) has been leaked to The Globe and Mail. According to the newspaper, in the note, Conservative MPs and senators have been ordered not to comment on a piece of explosive news from neighbouring United States.
The Supreme Court in Washington, D.C., made headlines on Tuesday after a leaked document suggested millions of US women could lose the legal right to abortion. The leak has stirred concerns that 1973 decision which legalised abortion in the country could be overturned, thereby permitted individual states to ban it. The leaked document, written by Justice Samuel Alito calls the Roe v Wade ruling issued almost 50 years ago, which legalised abortion across the US, is “egregiously wrong from the start”.
Meanwhile, the interim Conservative leader in Canada sent a “note to caucus” advising party members to keep quiet on the issue. “Conservatives will not be commenting on draft rulings leaked from the Supreme Court of the United States,” it reads.
According to the Abortion Rights Coalition of Canada, a political group engaged in pro-abortion activism, since 2008, motions or private bills to limit abortion in Canada have been brought forward by Conservatives MPs in the House of Commons. This is because the party allows free votes on the issue, calling it a matter of moral conscience, unlike Liberals and NDP which require all MPs to follow party policy in favors of abortion access.
Bergen herself has said he is anti-abortion. However, in a statement to The Globe and Mail, she said it’s “inappropriate” to comment on the leaked US Supreme Court decision since it is still before the courts. “Access to abortion was not restricted under Prime Minister Stephen Harper, and the Conservative Party will not introduce legislation or reopen the abortion debate,” the interim Conservative leader said in a Tuesday statement, just hours after the memo advised the caucus not to comment.
