Editor:
I was very surprised to learn that City Council had voted in favour of “Celebrate Life” week in Williams Lake as proposed by the Choice for Life Society of Williams Lake. I visited this organization’s webpage and was shocked to see the content that was displayed and have included a link to the page http://www.choiceforlife.ca.
I thought that the City would have taken more of a neutral stance on this subject and more appropriately not brought the proposal to council vote in the first place. I consider the vote in favour of this proclamation to be biased and not representative of all women’s rights. Why does our city council need be involved in such controversial matters such as the pro-choice vs. pro-life argument is beyond me. This does not represent all of Williams Lake.
I would like to direct your attention to the vision statement of the Abortion Rights Coalition of Canada which affirms the following:
“To achieve equality, all women must have the right to decide for themselves whether and when they will bear children, and how many. Without control of their fertility, women cannot have autonomy over their lives and cannot play a full and equal role in society. Women have a constitutionally-based right to unrestricted, fully-funded abortion, without legal or other barriers or discrimination due to gender, class, ethnicity, race, age, location/region (or area of residence), or any other characteristic, including reasons for choosing an abortion. The rights of pregnant women must not be abridged. A pregnant woman is ‘one person’ under the constitution. Women have the right to receive a full range of reproductive healthcare options, services, and information, including (but not limited to) medical and surgical abortion, contraception, family planning services, and comprehensive sexual health education.
“Women have the right to access reproductive healthcare services safely and in a timely manner, in an atmosphere of dignity, privacy, respect, trust, and compassion.
It is important not to overlook the fact that reproductive freedom and women’s right to choose is, in my opinion, not a matter for City Council members to approve, disapprove or promote in any way. Kelowna faced a similar issue here: http://www.theinterim.com/politics/kelowna-mayor-refuses-to-proclaim-annual-protect-human-life-week/. As a woman, mother and citizen I want to bring it to the attention to mayor and city council I object to this proclamation and am deeply offended.
Carrie Julius
Williams Lake