Letter to the Editor: Abortion and the Health Pledge

Today, my letter to the editor was published in The Globe and Mail:

If the Prime Minister is serious about improving women’s health internationally, his initiatives must address the comprehensive maternal and reproductive health care needs of women, including access to safe abortion care. As we’ve seen here and in other countries around the world, access to safe, legal abortion care preserves women’s health and saves women’s lives. Unsafe abortion remains one of the leading causes of maternal mortality in developing nations. According to the World Health Organization, nearly 70,000 women worldwide die from unsafe abortions annually and millions more are injured, many permanently.

This is a critical opportunity for Mr. Harper to champion the health of some of the world’s poorest women. We join Mr. Ignatieff in urging the Prime Minister to include access to contraception and abortion care in his efforts to improve maternal health care.