Chalk this one up as a win for the social conservative wing of the Conservative Party – and a loss for all women concerned about a slippery slope towards reducing choice.
The party faithful on Saturday voted – by a large majority – to make it official party policy to condemn the "discrimination against girls through gender selection." The proposal came from the Langley riding association, where Mark Warawa is the local MP.
Harper has a sense about what this is all about – reopening the abortion debate. That’s why Harper made sure a similar motion, tabled by Warawa in the House of Commons last year, got shot down. Harper said repeatedly that "he did not intend to reopen the debate on abortion."
Looks like the grassroots of the Conservative Party have a different idea. To get a flavour of where some of them would like to take the abortion debate, this group was distributing a pamphlet at the convention to convince delegates to support the gender selection motion. Their "quest" is to "restrict abortion to the greatest extent possible."