Report on Newfoundland Defund Abortion Rally
On Saturday September 28, 2013 at 2:30pm, Newfoundland & Labrador was the first of 8 provinces to kick off a Canada-wide campaign to Defund Abortion as a medically unnecessary procedure. This campaign points out that elective abortions have no legitimate claim to receive public money from our provincial health care system which is already cash-starved.
Margaret Hynes, President of Campaign Life Coalition Newfoundland, led the inaugural rally which began in front of the Confederation Building in St. John's, the place where Members of the House of Assembly do their work. The rally aimed to educate politicians and the public on the fact that abortion funding represents a wasteful drain of taxpayer dollars, which are desperately needed in other areas of the healthcare system that are grossly underfunded or not insured at all by the Medical Care Plan.
The ultimate goal of the defund abortion campaign in Newfoundland & Labrador is to remove elective abortion from the list of services covered by the Medical Care Plan.
"MHAs will learn that there is a real opportunity cost in diverting $1-million in tax dollars towards elective abortion”, said CLC Newfoundland President Margie Hynes. “For that money we could hire 5 family doctors, or 14 nurses in communities facing a dire shortage, or we could provide crucial therapy to 13 autistic children each year. That would be real healthcare, not politically-motivated spending.”
The rally received significant media coverage in Newfoundland & Labrador, as well as some opposition. Watch this video report of the Defund Abortion Rally by CBC:
To read CBC's online news report on the Defund Abortion Rally, click here.
Read an article by The Telegraph here.
Although the media reports give uncritical acceptance to the false propaganda of the pro-abortion counter protestors, it does present the core message of the Defund Abortion message quite clearly: abortion is not medically necessary and should not be funded as such. This media exposure will help grow support throughout Newfoundland and Labrador for the delisting of abortion from the Medical Care Plan.
CLC Newfoundland's President Margaret Hynes is encouraged by the inaugural rally. Her organization will carry on the campaign throughout the rest of the year with a petition campaign (print and online) as well as door-to-door pamphleting throughout the province. Hynes looks forward to a bigger and better rally rally next year as the campaign builds support.