The Canadian Press
Mike Blanchfield
OTTAWA–The federal government is pledging up to $20 million to fund sexual health and abortion-related projects as part of an international campaign to fill a gap created by President Donald Trump’s decision to ban U.S. funding for abortion-related programs.
The money will go to five organizations, including the International Planned Parenthood Federation, and be spent in the coming 12 months on contraceptives, family planning and comprehensive sexuality education, abortion services where they are legal, and access to post-abortion care.
International Development Minister Marie-Claude Bibeau said funding sexual education and abortion where it is legal is a matter of human rights.
“The idea is really to give women the choice,” Bibeau told reporters in a conference call from Brussels.
“We’re not forcing anyone into it.
“Having the control over our own body is, to me, the first step for women’s rights and it’s a matter of choice and having access to the information, the services, and the supplies,” she added.
Aid agency Save the Children welcomed the pledge, saying the money could help save the lives of women, adolescents, and girls in the most remote regions of the world.
Campaign Life Coalition, an anti-abortion group, called on the government to redirect the money to provide better nutrition, clean water, medicine, and safe deliveries overseas.
The group said in a release that the money signalled an abandonment of the country’s previous commitment to improving maternal health.
A major aid agency said it welcomed any financial help Canada can provide, but warned that if the country really is serious about helping poor women in the developing world, it must increase the overall amount it spends on international aid.
Lauren Ravon, Oxfam’s Canadian director of policy and campaigns, said Canada’s decision to take part in today’s pledging conference in Brussels–known as “She Decides”–is welcome.
Bibeau represented Canada at the meeting, where some 50 countries are trying to raise $600 million to fill the shortfall caused by Trump’s decision.
One of Trump’s first acts as president was to resurrect a policy withholding hundreds of millions of dollars a year from groups that perform abortions or provide advice about the procedure.
The ban has been instituted by successive Republican administrations dating back to the Ronald Reagan era–only to be rolled back by successive Democratic presidents since then.
