Canada

Conservative Party leader Andrew Scheer told the Globe and Mail that his party was more tolerant than the Liberal Party of Justin Trudeau pointing to the governing party’s opposition to pro-life Tory MP Rachael Harder chairing the status of women committee, Trudeau’s “values test” for the Canada Summer Jobs program, and the Liberal leader blocking pro-life Grits from running under the party banner. He also pointed to a Conservative motion condemning the treatment of LGBT in Chechnya while insisting he would not march in a Pride parade. The Globe editorialized that on abortion Scheer was not that different from Trudeau considering the Conservative leader’s vow not to reopen the issue: “There is exactly zero daylight between his position and that of Mr. Trudeau” … Stefanie Green, president of the Canadian Association of MAID (medical aid in dying) Assessors and Providers, told the Globe and Mail that “any publicly funded institution … has the obligation to provide legal, sanctioned, covered medical services in Canada,” including euthanasia and assisted-suicide … The National Post reported that the Canadian Alliance of Sex Workers Law Reform is “losing patience” with the Liberal government for not throwing out the previous government’s prostitution law. In 2013, the Harper government introduced a law in response to the Supreme Court’s Bedford decision that threw out the Criminal Code restrictions on abortion. Instead of legalizing prostitution, the government focused on the demand side for clients rather than the supply side of prostitutes. The Post reports that criminal prosecutions of women participating in prostitution declined from 2,800 in 2012 to 219 in 2016 … The Globe and Mail reported on the growing popularity of drag queens reading stories to children in the Toronto Public Libraries system as part of its LGBTQ kids programming. The TPL bring in cross-dressers to read stories about “acceptance, diversity, and all different types of families,” and story-time is often followed by dancing and singing. Scott Robins, TPL LGBTQ kids programming director, told the paper: “I think it’s important for kids to understand that boys don’t have to play with trucks and girls don’t have to play with dolls.”.

United States

Operation Rescue named President Donald Trump its “2017 Pro-life Person of the Year” with its Malachi Award. Operation Rescue president Troy Newman said Trump “has proven to be the most pro-life president we have had in modern history and has backed up his pro-life rhetoric with action like no other before him.” Newman cited the appointment of Supreme Court Justice Neil Gorsuch, the reinstatement of the Mexico City policy that prohibits US taxpayer funds from going to international agencies that promote or commit abortions, the launching of a Department of Justice investigation into Planned Parenthood’s alleged baby parts trafficking, and the president’s support of pro-life legislation on Capitol Hill … Planned Parenthood president Cecile Richards announced she will resign this year after serving in the position for 12 years. She applauded her own “life-changing and life-saving work” at Planned Parenthood … Acting Health and Human Services Secretary Eric Hargan announced that the federal government would protect the conscience rights of health care workers. A new conscience and religious freedom enforcement office is being opened in the HHS to combat discrimination or coercion of “providers who refuse to perform, accommodate, or assist in certain health-care services on religious or moral grounds,” including abortion, euthanasia, and transgender issues … The Canada-U.S. Council for Advancement of Women Entrepreneurs and Business Leaders created last year by Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and President Donald Trump and comprised of 10 executives from the two countries, released its first report last month. Among other policies it called for “more affordable quality child-care programs,” noting in the United States, in particular, “we heard women say that the high cost of child care or in-home support prevented them from scaling their companies to their full potential”

International

Irish Prime Minister Leo Varadkar said that citizen of the Emerald Isle will vote in May in a binding referendum to overturn the Eighth Amendment, passed in 1983, which gave the preborn equal rights. Under Irish law, abortion is permitted when continuing a pregnancy threatens the life of the mother. The BBC reports that “10 women a day travel to the United Kingdom” to commit abortions. The government did not set a date for the referendum nor release the language of the question. Last year, a multi-party committee examining the abortion law recommended legalizing unrestricted abortion up to 12 weeks … Dutch euthanasia regulator Berna van Baarsen quit her post saying she could not endorse the growing number of euthanasia requests for patients with dementia and condemned the shifting rules to permit the practice. “I do not believe that a written declaration of intent (in advance) can replace an oral request for incapacitated patients with advanced dementia.”