On August 19, the long awaited final report of the B.C. Task Force on Access to Contraception and Abortion was issued. Appropriately named, “Realizing Choices,” it is evident whose choices are realized in this report. Ted Gerk of the B.C. Pro-life Society , describes the report:
“Putting it simply, what we have here is an abortion advocacy organization presenting briefs to a provincial Task Force asking for additional funds, while a member of the same Task Force considering the proposal heads up the development and expansion of that same abortion advocacy group. The Task Force recommends substantial increased funding to this abortion and contraception advocacy group.”
Gerk notes that this is not a document put out by a provincial task force. “It is a document issued by the B.C. Coalition for Abortion Clinics. It is a document issued by a group of people who have a vested interest in seeing access to abortion increased substantially. It is a document issued by a group of people who have fought long and hard against the pro-life movement….and now see in the present government an opportunity to strike a blow against their political enemies.”
“The provincial government has already been tainted by the Colin Gabelmann scandal—where Joy Thompson and others in the political pro-abortion movement have been meeting secretly with the Attorney General’s office, with representatives of the Legal Services Branch, with representatives of the Criminal Justice Branch, with representatives of the Ministry of Government Services and with representatives of Freedom of Information. The same government has absolutely refused to meet with us and has taken no interest in the concerns of thousands of British Columbians who value the sanctity of life.”
It is interesting to note the make-up of the Task Force. Marcena Levine is in charge of clinic development for Planned Parenthood of British Columbia. Joy Thompson and Hilda Thomas both have represented and have been spokespersons for the B.C. Coalition for Abortion Clinics. Dr. Denise Werker is and has been on the board of directors for Vancouver’s second abortuary, the Elizabeth Bagshaw Clinic and is one of its abortionists.
Numerous recommendations of the Task Force which usurp parental authority will come as no surprise to those who realize pro-lifers had no voice in what should have been an important study.
The report was commissioned in 1992 and has been delayed a number of times. It cost British Columbia taxpayers over $90,000 for a study that furthers the practice of abortion in a province that already has one of the highest abortion rates in Canada.
