Brad Trost: "Justin, cancel all Canadian funding to the global abortion fund!"

Trost asks Conservative Leadership Candidates' to support his cancellation call

OTTAWA, March 6, 2017 /CNW/ - Conservative Leadership Candidate and Saskatoon-University MP Brad Trost called on the Trudeau Government, today, to reverse its decision to make an initial contribution of $20 million to a Dutch government-initiated global abortion fund, and to embargo any additional funding for abortion. Trost also asked all Conservative leadership candidates to support his call for a cancellation of funding.

Said Brad Trost, "I call on Justin Trudeau to reverse his minister's misguided decision to turn over $20 million of Canadian taxpayers' dollars to agencies which provide abortion internationally, including in countries where abortion is illegal. I ask all Conservative leadership candidates to support this call to cancel Canada's global abortion funding."

Justin Trudeau's International Development minister announced a first instalment of $20 million in funding for international abortion. During a media teleconference on Thursday, March 2, 2017, Minister Bibeau indicated that this $20 million is only the beginning. Bibeau made it clear that this is the first instalment of multi-annual funding. Further, that so-called sexual and reproductive "rights" will be a pillar of the Justin Trudeau government's foreign policy.

What is not widely known is that funding from the global abortion fund is earmarked to go to the International Planned Parenthood Federation (IPPF), Marie Stopes International, UNFPA (The United Nations Population Fund), IPAS, and PSI. Marie Stopes International has been found providing abortions in countries where abortion is illegal. Although Bibeau was quoted earlier by The Globe and Mail as insisting that the Justin Trudeau Government is "not promoting it (abortion) right now," each of these agencies to be funded promotes abortion among vulnerable women in rural Africa. They provide abortion to women who do not have access to even basic health care to address any complications from abortions these agencies perform.

In 2009 and 2010, after Brad Trost initiated a petition and marshalled support from his Caucus Colleagues, there was no funding to International Planned Parenthood. After his predecessor had restored the funding in 2011, Julian Fantino, Conservative International Development minister, cancelled all Canadian funding to International Planned Parenthood and any agency promoting or performing abortion internationally, in 2013. Canadian funding for the UN maternal health program was conditional on its not being used to fund abortions. Canadian funding was focused on maternal health, not on abortion.

"To promote abortion among women who cannot access even basic health care, let alone any follow-up care to deal with complications from the abortions they perform, is irresponsible. By funding agencies that promote abortion globally, the Justin Trudeau Government is engaging in the worst form of cultural imperialism," commented Brad Trost. "I call on Justin Trudeau to CANCEL this and any future funding to the global abortion fund, and devote all such funding instead to maternal and child health care."

SOURCE Brad Trost Campaign

Mike Patton, Director of Media Relations, [phone] / [email protected]