NO RESTRICTIONS

Flaherty denies he would restrict access to abortion
Leadership hopeful says his pro-life views won't become factor in leadership race
Ian Urquhart
PROVINCIAL AFFAIRS COLUMNIST

In an effort to set the record straight, Deputy Premier Jim Flaherty has denied he would restrict access to abortions in Ontario.

"I would not interfere with the status quo in Ontario (on the question of abortion)," Flaherty said in an interview yesterday.

He explained that means he would continue funding of abortion clinics and maintain the injunction against picketing outside such clinics.

"My personal views on this issue are well-known," said Flaherty, a candidate for the leadership of the provincial Conservatives. "I am pro-life.''

But, he continued, "I'm a pragmatic person. There are reasons for acting pragmatically. You can't administer the law in Ontario without looking at the real consequences for real people."

At his campaign kick-off press conference last week, Flaherty tried to deflect questions about his stand on abortion by saying, "It's a federal issue."

His response only raised more questions, such as whether he would cut off funding for stand-alone abortion clinics, an issue decided by the province.

(In 1999, in response to a questionnaire from a pro-life group, Flaherty said he favoured "an end to the financing of abortion clinics by the taxpayer.")444Flaherty's opponents in the provincial Tory campaign wondered whether the deputy premier was courting the pro-life vote, as Stockwell Day did in his successful bid for the leadership of the Canadian Alliance last year.

As the abortion question threatened to overshadow his leadership campaign, Flaherty decided to make himself available for a series of media interviews yesterday in the hopes of clearing the air on the subject once and for all.

"Ontario does provides funding of abortion services, some in hospitals and some in clinics, and would continue to do so (if I become premier)," he said yesterday.

As for the injunction against picketing, obtained by the previous NDP government over bitter objections from pro-life groups, Flaherty noted that, when he was attorney-general, he made no move to lift the ban.

"The status quo was working, and the attorney-general has a general responsibility for (maintaining) good public peace and order," he said.

But Flaherty was less categorical on related abortion questions, such as "conscience" and "consent" legislation.

(Conscience legislation would allow nurses and other health-care workers to refuse to perform abortions for conscientious reasons; consent legislation would require teenagers to seek parental consent before obtaining an abortion.)

Flaherty said that, while he supports both ideas in principle, neither is a priority for him.

He noted that consent legislation is difficult to draft.

And he said that, rather than the province passing a law guaranteeing protection for health-care workers, "It's something that ought to be litigated (under the Charter of Rights)."