Harper's "Maternal Health Plan" for the G8 - FAIL!

I'd heard this was coming. I'm so disgusted. Right-wing values trump actually SAVING LIVES. Oh wait, according to the Conservatives, birth control doesn't fit with saving lives.

That's right: allowing women to choose WHEN or IF they will go through pregnancy has nothing to do with saving lives.

Well guess what? This fact sheet from USAID disputes that. Here's just a sample:

Global Importance of Family Planning
• Saves lives of mothers and children: Births that are too close together, too early, or too late in a woman’s life decrease both the mother’s and the infant’s chances for survival. By helping women space births at least three years apart, bear children during their healthiest years, and avoid unplanned pregnancies, family planning could prevent 25 percent of maternal and child deaths in the developing world.
• Reduces abortion rates: Unintended pregnancy can result in abortion.An estimated 35 million abortions take place each year in the developing world.Wider availability of family planning programs could prevent many of these abortions.
• Important in fight against HIV/AIDS, particularly mother-to-child HIV transmission: Family planning allows HIV-positive women to space births for optimal health and contributes to programs providing voluntary counseling and testing and pre­ vention of mother-to-child transmission (PMTCT) services. Family planning services also help reduce stigma, improve referral networks for HIV-related services, and prevent unintended pregnancy, HIV infection, and other sexually transmitted infec­tions.

 Basically, the CPC don't want to upset their supporters by even remotely seeming to support abortion. It doesn't matter if women desperate for an end to an unwanted, or unsafe pregnancy are DYING; it's more important to keep those votes.

I'll have more to say about this later, I'm sure. Unfortunately I'm too sick right now to express my true outrage. Give me a few more days of antibiotics. In the meantime, you can read more here.