Ottawa, Oct. 23, 2003 – Three weeks after Garry Breitkreuz’s pro-life Motion M-83 (calling for the Health Committee to study both the impact of abortion on women’s health and whether abortions are medically necessary) was defeated in Parliament, he was right back with a new motion, M-482, calling on the government to introduce a bill entitled the Woman’s Right to Know Act. “The majority of MPs in the House that night refused to support my motion calling for the Health Committee to study all the risks women take by having an abortion so the next logical step was to make sure that laws are in place to guarantee women are fully informed of all the risks by their doctors before they decide to abort their baby,” said the Saskatchewan MP.

Breitkreuz’s Motion M-482 states: That, in the opinion of this House, the government should introduce a bill entitled “Woman’s Right to Know Act” that would guarantee that all women considering an abortion would be given complete information by their physician about all the risks of the procedure before being referred for an abortion, and provide penalties for physicians who perform an abortion without the informed consent of the mother or perform an abortion that is not medically necessary for the purpose of maintaining health, preventing disease or diagnosing or treating an injury, illness or disability in accordance with the Canada Health Act.

“The only way we can guarantee that women are fully informed of all the risks of having an abortion is to have appropriate penalties in the Act for any abortion provider that performs an abortion without the informed consent,” explained Breitkreuz. “The Act should also provide appropriate penalties for any doctor who performs an abortion that is not medically necessary as defined by the Canada Health Act.”

“Doctors perform more than 100,000 abortions a year in Canada and many women only learn about the risks after they are suffering with the side effects such as increased risk of: breast cancer, suicide, infertility, psychiatric problems, uterine perforations, pelvic inflammatory disease, and increase in pre-term and/or low birth-weight babies which increases risk of disability such as cerebral palsy. Every one of these women have a right to know and that’s why Canadian women need a Woman’s Right to Know Act,” concluded Breitkreuz.

You can visit Mr. Breitkreuz at his website, www.garrybreitkreuz.com