Wednesday, June 13, 2012

Canadian Auto Workers' union opposes life caravan

Pro-abortion union plans counter protests
The New Abortion Caravan drives down a B.C. highway in an undated photo. The trucks are painted with abortion images on the sides and back. The Canadian Auto Workers' union is protesting the Caravan. BCC file photo.
The Canadian Auto Workers' Union (CAW) is opposing the "New Abortion Caravan" sponsored by Canadian Centre for Bio-Ethical Reform (CCBR). The Caravan will be spending the final month of their tour in Manitoba and Ontario protesting abortion and representatives from the union will be there meet them and counter-protest.

"An organization known as the CCBR want to take away our (abortion) rights using fear, guilt, and shock tactics," said Julie White, CAW director for women's programs.

White praised the work of the original Abortion Caravan from 1970 that comprised 17 feminists who drove around the country preaching the message of abortion. The feminists used shock tactics. They tied a coffin full of coat hangers to the top of one of the cars to represent women killed from botched abortions. They also burned an effigy of then Prime Minister Pierre Trudeau.

CAW also denounced Conservative MP Stephen Woodworth's personhood Motion M-312. The motion seeks to set up a special parliamentary committee to investigate the 400-year-old definition of a person, which currently states that a human has no legal rights until complete birth.

statement on CAW's website by White and CAW national president Ken Lewenza said the union opposes the motion:
Women and men alike watched in disgust as Conservative MP Stephen Woodworth's motion, supported by a number of his colleagues, called into question the ability of women to make choices over their own bodies. M-312 proposes the creation of a Parliamentary Committee to examine whether the Criminal Code definition of "human being" should be expanded to include fetuses. In effect, the motion opens the door for the criminalization of abortion and the revival of the long concluded debate over women's reproductive rights and autonomy over their own bodies. 
Stephanie Gray, CCBR executive director, released a statement saying that CAW isn't respecting members among the 200,000 person union who might be pro-life:
“I find it shocking that the largest private worker’s union in the country is using its union dues to advocate for abortion. Participation in this union is mandatory, and yet people like CAW president Ken Lewenza are using the union dues of pro-life auto workers to advocate for Canada’s status quo as the only Western democracy to have no abortion restrictions. Canadians are forced to fund abortion with their tax dollars, and now CAW members are being forced to advocate for it with their union dues.  What does abortion have to do with workplace issues for autoworkers?   It is unfortunate that Ken Lewenza has no respect for his employees’ freedom of conscience.”
Gray said the CCBR seeks to redeem history with The New Abortion Caravan by retracing the steps of the original Caravan only this time proclaiming a message of life. The Caravan is part of the CCBR's effort to end abortion in Canada.

Read more at The B.C. Catholic website.

3 comments:

  1. It's official. CAW sanctions the killing of unborn babies. Glad I'm retired, and never have to worry about funding left wing materialist unions again.

    ReplyDelete
  2. That is beyond ridiculous. The CAW supports women's right to choose what happens to their own bodies. Get real.

    ReplyDelete
  3. Thanks to the CAW for all of the work they do for their members and for society as a whole.
    I thank Julie White for her statement.
    Also, I do not see exactly how the CAW is using its members' dues to advocate for abortion, as Stephanie Gray claims, but maybe it's just not explained in this post (I can't see counter-protests costing much or any money).

    ReplyDelete

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