In commemoration of International Women's Day, the Canadian Government announced this morning that it will be spending $650 million CAD (approximately $480 million U.S. dollars) over the next three years for abortion and "sexual and reproductive health" in foreign aid programs.
The spending increase is approximately twice what the Canadian Government currently allocates for "sexual and reproductive health" programs, according to the Campaign Life Coalitio n.
The Government announced that it will specifically focus on funding for sex education, contraceptives, combatting gender-based violence and child marriage, and increasing access to abortion, including "post-abortion care."
While the previous Canadian Government under Prime Minister Stephen Harper had specifically prevented maternal and child health grants from funding abortion, the current Government under Prime Minister Justin Trudeau has specifically included funding for abortion under the auspices of "sexual and reproductive health."
In the United States, the Helms Amendment prohibits foreign aid dollars from being used to directly pay for abortion or for lobbying or promoting abortion. The Mexico City Policy, recently reinstated by U.S. President Donald Trump, prevents global health assistance from being used to subsidize foreign nongovernmental organizations that perform or promote abortion in other countries. Canada's new allocation for "sexual and reproductive health" will include direct funding for abortion procedures in other countries using Canadian tax dollars.
The announcement comes merely days after the Canadian Government vowed to allocate $20 million for the "She Decides" campaign, an international abortion fund created by the Dutch Government in response to President Trump reinstating the Mexico City Policy this past January.
The Mexico City Policy will prevent millions of American tax dollars from subsidizing international abortion providers such as the International Planned Parenthood Federation (IPPF) and Marie Stopes International. To date, the Dutch international abortion fund has raised nearly $190 million U.S. dollars.
Over the past decade and a half, the Canadian Government has been one of the strongest financiers for IPPF. Since the year 2000, IPPF has received over $44 million U.S. dollars from the Canadian Government.
It is perhaps more than a cruel irony that the Government has chosen International Women's Day for announcing a significant increase in spending for abortion. Several studies have shown that abortion is detrimental to women's emotional and psychological health. Canada's vow to increase funding for abortion will undoubtedly end many unborn lives - many of them female.