Editorial — Tell your MP: no law Once again a largely male Parliament is pushing to put an entirely female issue back into the Criminal Code. The abortion legislation introduced by Justice Minister Doug Lewis Nov. 3 is cleverly couched in the language popularized by the pro-choice movement. The law would make abortion a choice between a woman and her doctor, providing the doctor establishes the pregnancy would adversely affect the woman’s physical or mental health. Not meeting this criteria could result in penalties of up to two years in prison for either party. The legislation was barely tabled in Parliament when the pundits pronounced it “abor- tion on demand” and predicted opposition only from the “extremists” on either side. The opinion makers aside, the abortion law is wrong — ideologically, legally and medically. First it again makes abortion a criminal matter — the only medical procedure to show up in criminal law. The implication is that women are a frivolous lot, needing to be coerced into responsible behaviour. Second, it says only a physically and/or mentally unhealthy woman should ever seek an abortion. The desire to control one’s reproduction is not an illness. The Tories insisted on re-introducing abortion legislation in response to the public outcry generated by men using the courts to force their ex-girlfriends into continuing their pregnancies. i But this bill provides no protection for these women: in fact it encourages such actions. A whole barrage of witnesses — partners, doctors, psychiatrists, family and acquaintances — could be rallied to testify that a woman does not qualify for an abortion. Furthermore, the very threat of prosecution, whether or not it is ever exercised, will be enough to intimidate doctors, particularly those in conservative backwaters, from perform- ing abortions. And despite media-induced impressions, it is not just doctors who could be prosecuted. Women are also liable if they “lie” about their need for an abortion. Most vulnerable are teenage women who lack the resources to obtain access to legitimate medical means and are therefore most likely to try self-administered methods to end an unwanted pregnancy. Fear of prosecution will cause these young women to risk their lives, rather than risk exposure and prison. The callous intent of this law can be found in Lewis’s total disregard for abortion access. Asked how the proposed law answers the needs of women outside the major urban centres, the minister laughed. “Access? That’s a provincial problem,” he said. Access is definitely a problem in the provinces where pious premiers have made a crusade out of making their jurisdictions abortion-free zones. But it is not a provincial problem, it is a federal one. The federal government has the power through the Canada Health Act to withhold funding from provinces which do not provide full medical services. That power was exercised in the extra-billing issue and it should be used with regard to abortion. Last, this so-called “liberal” law may not necessarily be the last word. It can still be amended by the Tory-stacked committee to make it even more restricted. If passed, nothing stops future parliaments from placing more barriers. The time to stop the abortion law is now. Get on the phone to the prime minister, the justice minister and your MP and tell them Canada doesn’t need a new abortion law. FREE TRADE SOVEREIGNTY FIRIBONE ! EDITOR Sean Griffin ASSOCIATE EDITOR Dan Keeton BUSINESS & CIRCULATION MANAGER Mike Proniuk GRAPHICS Angelia Kenyon Published weekly at 2681 East Hastings Street Vancouver, B.C., V5K 1Z5 Phone: (604) 251-1186 Fax: (604) 251-4232 Subscription rate: Canada: @ $20 one year @ $35 two years ® Foreign $32 one year Second class mail registration number 1560 oody Guthrie would have been proud. On the grassy expanse surrounding the Peace Arch park monument, the youth of three nations sang his most memorable song in a way the progressive American folk balladeer would have liked. Their voi- ces mingled to produce a three-chorus ver- sion of “This Land is Your Land” in a homage to three countries: Canada, the Soviet Union and the United States. The occasion was an” international “flag-sharing” ceremony Nov. 14 at the international border crossing, one of a ser- ies of events during a tour of the province by 17 students and eight adults from the Siberian city of Novosibirsk under the auspices of the Canadian Soviet Friendship Exchange Project ‘89. Organized by Dr. David Rempel, principal of Mount Cres- cent Elementary School in Maple Ridge, the tour began Nov. 8 and will culminate in a farewell potluck dinner at the school gym on Nov. 20. At the Peace Arch ceremony, student representatives from the state of Washing- ton, Maple Ridge schools, and the Soviet guests spoke of their hopes for world peace before school bands from both sides of the border played and students mingled to exchange Soviet, Canadian and U.S. flags. Among the speakers was secondary school student Yara Pottosina, who des- cribed herself in an interview in English as a “little star” of her school theatre. Yara told the assembly: “All of us have come to the Peace Arch to shake hands with young Americans. May these hand- shakes be friendly and strong and help us bring our peaceful future closer.” Her counterpart, a student representative from Washington named Naomi, said: “I feel . that by getting to know people from dif- ferent countries, we can learn to appre- ciate and respect each other. Changes that are going on in the Eastern Bloc countries are a great help towards such goals.” As of this writing the Soviet guests have met with Grand Forks students, partici- pated in Remembrance Day ceremonies and enjoyed hot air balloon rides in Mer- ritt, visited the Quilchena Ranch in Dou-. glas Lake, and attended a Canadian-Soviet cultural exchange concert. The Soviet guests were also due to visit Lake Cowi- chan and Victoria. The hosts include the Maple Ridge school board and four schools: Mount Crescent elementary, Websters Corners elementary, Garibaldi secondary and Westveiw Jr. secondary. The exchange visit had its beginnings in a trip Dr. Rempel took to the USSR last year, accompanying his mother who was visiting a sister. There he met with princi- pals from five schools and, following dis- cussions on how the renewal known as perestroika was affecting Soviet educa- tion, received an invitation from principal Tatyana Delfontswva to bring students from Websters Corners elementary, of which he was then principal, for a visit. Sixteen students, three parents and Rempel subsequently flew over last May for a 14-day exchange, during which the visitors were accommodated at local homes and visited schools. Administrators there made a commitment to return the Visit. Rempel praises the new mood of peace People and Issues and co-operation for what he calls the success of the exchange program, and hopes to repeat it in the near future. * * * n the subject of Soviet-Canadian friendship of the local variety, we have news that the leader of B.C.’s Douk- hobor community has received an award — signed by no less a person than the USSR’s top leader. John Verigin, honourary chairperson of the Union of Spiritual Communities of Christ, learned recently that he has been awarded the Soviet Order of People’s ‘ Friendship. It was signed by President Mikhail Gorbachev, according to the Tass news agency. Verigin and his family have long been involved in exchange programs and host- ing delegations from the USSR. The Doukhobor community settled in towns around the East Kootenays in the late 19th Century, fleeing religious persecution i Czarist Russia. “a * KO he Alberta-based Reform Party, a right-wing organization led by Preston Manning, son of the founder of the origi- nal Social Credit, Ernest Manning, attempts to engrave in the public percep- tion an image of the party as one with populist leanings. In doing so it hopes to inherit the mantle of the old Socreds, and to attract those alienated westerners who share a resentment towards the big eastern powers and who have similar grassroots sentiments, albeit on the conservative side of things. That’s probably why it had as a candi- date in last federal election a person like Stuart Gilbertson, a former plant manager who has- made headlines this year by revealing the shenanigans behind the clo- sure of Western Canada Steel. He’s been spilling the story, in hearings held by the Industrial Relations Council, into charges of anti-labour practices at B.C.’s only steel fabricating company, bought out by a U.S. firm and permanently closed after a lockout of its workers. In the process Gil- bertson has testified, on behalf of the Can- adian Association of Industrial, Mechan- ical and Allied Workers, that the company forced the lockout to avoid paying sever- ance benefits and once tried to get him to incite picket line violence, an order he refused. Gilbertson’s high-profile testimony got him in trouble with the Reform Party’s Richmond constituency association, for which he ran unsuccessfully in 1988. A letter last month from constituency presi- dent George Gryschuk told Gilbertson he should resign as a candidate because of the “negative feedback” his activities had gen- erated among party members. Gryschuk, embarrassed by the negative publicity his letter generated, has since modified his words, although he denies Gilbertson’s contention that anti-labour elements of the party were the cause of the censure. We think that the letter reveals the true colours of the party leadership, if not all of its members. Meanwhile, Gil- bertson continues to testify at the IRC hearings, which may last though this month. 4 + Pacific Tribune, November 20, 1989 ,