A major pro-choice civil liberties organization is joining pro-lifers in a legal action against Canadian Prime Minster Justin Trudeau’s abortion policy.
As the National Post reports, the B.C. Civil Liberties Association (BCCLA) says it cannot agree that everyone applying for federal government grants under the Canada Summer Jobs program should have to support the Trudeau government’s abortion-on-demand policy.
Trudeau has denied funding to any groups who will not support his government’s commitment to “reproductive rights,” which in Canada is a blank check for unrestricted abortion since Canada has no law regulating abortion.
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Even a pro-choice group like the BCCLA says that is excessive. Executive director Josh Paterson says Trudeau’s demands are an infringement on free speech.
“To say, look, we’re just not going to fund any anti-choice activities, I don’t think that would contravene the constitution,” he told the Post. “To say we’re going to force you to mouth these words, or to sign this attestation, whether or not you believe in the words written: that is what is problematic.”
The group applied for and was granted intervener status this week in a legal action initiated by a Toronto pro-life organization against the Liberal government’s insistence that all applicants for the Summer Jobs program attest to their support for the government’s abortion policy.
“We are coming from a different perspective because we’re a resolutely pro-choice organization and have been speaking up for reproductive rights for decades,” Paterson told the Post, adding that the group actually applied for the Summer Jobs program and signed he attestation that it agreed with the the Liberal government’s abortion policy.
“We didn’t have a problem because it goes along with our beliefs,” he said. “But we don’t think others should have been forced to sign it.”