Conservative Senator to Women's Rights Groups: STFU

The government is planning on omitting abortion funding from its new maternal health initiative for developing countries. Senator Nancy Ruth reacted to some of the heat this has caused:

"We've got five weeks or whatever left until the G8 starts. Shut the f--k up on this issue," she says. "If you push it, there'll be more backlash. This is now a political football. This is not about women's health in this country."

She went on to say, "Canada is still a country with free and accessible abortion. Leave it there. Don't make this an election issue."

Afterward, Ruth was asked about her comments. "I'm not going to repeat them in front of microphones. You gotta be crazy."

[Liberal MP Dr. Carolyn] Bennett echoed another panelist at the meeting, saying that women in the world didn't achieve what they have over the years by "shutting up."

Source

Not only do you not achieve anything by shutting up, you will be pushed, slowly but surely, backwards. Do you really think that progress will be made by letting social reactionaries have their way? Is there any doubt that they'll take that small victory and try to turn back the clock even farther?

(crossposted to canpolitik)