I love how everyone is refering to contraceptives as "THE PILL". For all of you ladies commenting out there, if you didn't know that there are more contraceptives than the birth control pill then you also have been misinformed along with Harper. Yes he may be silly for thinking that providing contraceptives is not a way to control maternal health. All in all it will be a way to control it, things take time. Have faith in our government and our Prime Minister, after all, we voted for him. Also there are other things that regulate maternal health such as eating healthy, taking care of your body with exercise and not consuming alcohol or drugs. I strongly agree about providing women in poor countries with birth control but I don't think it should be limited to just the oral control. Another thing, if they are going to be providing these forms of birth control they should absolutely be providing the women with the information they need to use them properly. I also don't believe that the women don't know how they are getting pregnant. They may be uneducated but they aren't stupid. Its basic animal instinct for anyone. If you know how to have sex without instruction, you will know what the ending result will be. You can gather that from animals for heaven sake. If the pill in fact made you suisidal then obviously you have other issues not involving the estrogen entering your body (Sally). I myself have been on the pill for years, I have had 0 side affects and I have yet to become pregnant. If you have been so dead against the pill then why haven't you explored other options, like TUBAL LIGATION perhaps? If the pill was so harmful to women then if would not be such an effective form of birth control or be on the market but like everything else it works differently with everyone. No birth control is 100% if you really don't want children, don't have sex. The only 100% birth control is abstinence. After reading your entire comment it makes me think you are a imbecile. Everything can cause cancer, not only birth control, everyone is born with cancer cells if you didn't know, certain things activate them. What about us as a nation trying to prevent deaths by guiding the undereducated? We know what safe sex is and proper use of birth control. We are right to think that because we have been educated on those things. Look at what goes on in those poor countries, unprotected sex and unsafe abortions. I don't even want to imagine what they do to terminate a pregnancy over there. Please think before you comment. John, you are rediculous if you think that rape victims are the only ones who should be entitled to safely terminate their pregnancy. Everyone is entitles to their opinion but my god man! "Ending a life because you "choose" to not want to support it is just disgusting in my opinion and should be subject to federal punishment in all civilized societies." Think of what you are saying, are the poorer countries not civilized because they are not educated? Who are you to say that we are civilized at all? What about young girls who don't know the importance of sex. What if a young girl say 14 years of age has an older boyfriend and she hasn't been provided with the information regarding sex. She doesn't use protection and gets pregnant. Is it still disgusting if she has the pregnancy terminated? I think it would be more disgusting if she wasn't allowed. Another senario, condoms break, the needle didn't work, you have tubal ligation and become pregnant. Are these "accidental pregnancies" justified to terminate? I certainly think so. You are a man I am assuming by the comment name, you have no idea what its like to carry a child, or become pregnant by accident. So until that happens to you, keep your nasty "PROLIFE" comments to yourself, you may be hurting someones feelings by thinking the process is dispicable. Also when it comes to the "improper" surgical methods, they are very professional and successful in most cases. Why don't we all stop having sex since you have no faith in the human race because we all have sti'd and vd's right?

I would definitely have to agree that there should in deed be more programs for young women and for all women! I have heard horror stories about the pill and the side effects they can cause, even deaths have occurred as well as life threatening illnesses from taking certain birth control pills such as yaz and Jasmin. In fact there are commercials regarding these two birth control types that have caused deaths and other life threatening occurrences!!! I think there should be workshops on these kind of things because there is just too much young teen pregnancies that are unwanted and too much of our tax dollars goes on these, I am not suggesting or supporting child abortions but as long as these issues are addressed sooner like taking the morning after for another alternative!

Contraception is desparately needed in many underdeveloped countries that cannot afford to feed themselves for a myriad of reasons. Population is out of control in many countries with no recourse to prevent it. For neanderthals like Harper and poster John Jackson we must simply turn a deaf ear to common sense and logic and throw our money away. That is what the end result will be...for a pseudo-christian society the story about 'give a man a fish.....' seems to have no bearing on these rednecks, oops, I mean conservatives.
Harper has proven himself to be weak, ineffectual, half-witted and now uninformed. Hardly surprising given that he is a part of the political sideshow we call our government. And Mr. John Jackson, you seem overtly fond of using phrases such as 'these women, these people....' you are aware of course that the issue involves women from poor countries, right? I mean, you wouldn`t just shoot your mouth off without knowing all the facts right.....oh, yeah, a conservative groupie....nevermind.

Since when is a pill an answer to common sense. I have
two things to address. Number one for those of you that
think the contraceptive pill is safe and an effective
harmless way of stopping unwanted pregnancies you are only
partially right. First off a pill is only as good as
the person who knows how to take them. So if women in
these countries have so little education that they don't
realize how they can become pregnant etc then how the
heck are they supposed to be able to understand the
instructions on taking pills. I have known many a women
here who don't have the brain enough to take them right,
and you think women over their will? Don't try to fit
our lifestyle into theirs? If the pill isn't taken
correctly then it doesn't work at all.And the week that
a women is on her period and still on the pill she still
can get pregnant so guys would only rape a women when
she isn't on her period? Get with reality, I think not.
Also I was a women who took the pill for 9 years. In
essence it destroyed my life. I was suicidal numerous
times, it made me feel totally lifeless and I would have
rather had 10 children then live like that. I tried
many pills and all were awful so no it isn't something
that is healthy to take. Also the pill depletes the
nutritional nutrients out of a woman's body, especially
vitamin B. And you think that that is good for women
who are so malnutritioned already? It is okay for women
here who can go and buy vitamins maybe to supplement or
eat right but they can't do that over there? So in my
opinioin it isn't a thing that should be pushed over
there. I think in general the pill is pushed way to much
to women over here and is doing nothing but messing up
with our bodies. Also the use of the pill can only be used
by some women. Other women with certain family histories
of breast cancer etc should never take the pill. Because
it increases the risk of breast cancer, blood clots etc.
Women who are living in poverty, who are malnutritioned,
who do not get a pap smear every year SHOULD NOT TAKE
THE PILL. These women over there do not have the ability
to go to the doctor to know those things. So how could
they know if they are being put at risk.We all like to
think that our way of living is so much better and that
we need to help them. But what makes us think that we
are right? You say well they didn't have education to
understand that having sex with a women makes babies and
we know those things? Well tell me 1000 years ago did
we have education to teach us that? NO, we figured it
out for ourselves and then continued to teach. How
come they can't do that? We had to start from scratch as
well as they do.Just because something works for us
doesn't mean it works for everyone. Our nation is arrogant
to think that everything we do is so right and the rest
of the world needs to be the same. Well in my opinion
we have so many things here done wrong all the time that
how can we ever tell anyone what to do. We can't even
get it right ourselves. Contraceptives only work for
some but not for all. Don't try to stick everyone into
moulds when that is not the logical or smart thing to do
I am not a conservative supporter at all, nor do I care
for any other party that much. But the quicker our society
stops trying to throw out quick fixes without thinking
things through is the day that I will say we have done
something right.

When approached with this option vs doing nothing at all, I suppose supporting it is all we can do. It doesn't help prevent, discourage or stop the overall problem of ignorant and irresponsible sex. At least it will save lives.

Abortion is a very negligent thing to do to, not only is it completely irresponsible but it is also harmful to your body regardless of how successful the procedure went. Ending a life because you "choose" to not want to support it is just disgusting in my opinion and should be subject to federal punishment in all civilized societies. Legalization of such things just encouraged more and more people to not only act irresponsibly but also increases overall sexual activity which results in higher disease spread. The only time such action should be encouraged is in the event of forced sex.

Saying all that, the idea of helping people prevent pregnancy doesn't defuse the overall problem. But at least it helps in preventing accidental deaths due to improper surgical methods. I would be much more supportive of a widespread enforced law that discourages unsafe sex and accidental pregnancy. But we can't' always get what we want, and using logic in these times often results in a lot of controversy.

In a final note to some of the responses I am reading on here. Education doesn't solve issues like these as well as one would hope, so pulling that card every time these subjects are brought up is just plain dumb. Even in an educated country we suffer from disease spread, unsafe sex, and accidental pregnancy. Though there are events of forced sex and very young pregnancies, most people just can't control their urges long enough to use their brain and that's the simple truth to it. Education may help one in ten people, but herein the problem still lies, it just doesn't do enough.

I agree that women should have choice and access to as many options as possible, but I have never taken birth control pills in my entire life and plan to keep it that way. I was given a pack by a walk in clinic doctor when I was 16. I read the booklet that came with it, and decided to trash the whole package all together. I have been sexually active for 18 years using condoms, and for a very short period I experimented with spermicidal foam as well, but have never been pregnant, and this system works well for me. My point is, that before we thrust pills down uneducated women's throats, lets inform them of the risks that these pills envolve, and give them alternate choices.

No, the conservative government is not living in the past. They are simply agreeing with the United Nations Population Fund's report on maternal mortality. The report entitled "Maternal Mortality Update 2004: Delivering Into Good Hands," it says that, "almost all meternal mortality is avoidable", because "all five of the most life-threatening complications can be treated by a professional health worker." Saving mothers and babies lives comes down to providing basic things like a sanitary operating theater and skilled obstetrical care. Encouraging forms of birth-control other than condoms in these places is counter-intuitive because an obortion doesn't prevent aids. If a man thinks he can sleep around unprotected because he won't be on the hook for providing for a child does that improve maternal health? As studies have found in the developed world, so called "safe abortions" are often riskier to the mothers health than caring for it full term.(May 01, study by the College of Physicians and Surgeons of Ontario) Also, while caring for many children can be financially and physically demanding, in the long run, in the developing world, they are a womens only hope of financial security and health care in her old age.
The real question is, who's agenda is it to reduce the population of the working class? To eliminate the so called unfit? Does somebody want less Africans?
These children are the ones who are going to build their countries into the developed nations. Shouldn't we be educating them instead of aborting?

yes, birth control should've been a part of women's health n safety but poeple have got to stop and think before jumping down any throats and calling the government 'old fashioned'. There are probably reasons they didn't specifically address birthcontrol- while it is a great idea in theory, one must practice it inorder to see results. Maybe they think that it won't be successful right away dur to the lack of education so they want to first promote awareness before jsut giving out pills and hoping people use them. I'm just throwing it out there...but it is possible that the government was thinking ahead and planning longterm and that's why they didn't talk about the pills. So, people need to take a breath and just chill before going in for the kill. lol

When Harper was elected, I remember one of his Ministers apologizing ( when the minister got elected to office), to the Canadian people for saying there are two kinds of people, people like me (Conservatives) and bums (Canadians). This is truly a two tierd Gov't. How can anyone believe or even trust a government who have done nothing but lie to Canadians. As with this case of birth control, don't worry . Track records show that the Government of today likes to do the opposite of what they propose . (consistantly not knowing WTF to do.) Really , it's time for a change.

I think money should be spent here at home in CANADA... Sure its nice to help out other countries that can't help themselves but we need help here. With the price of contraceptives and people who can't afford them we have a lot of unwanted babies born here. Then what happens, we the tax payers end up paying for them. If we want to make differences we need to start here.

Dave, what on earth are you talking about?? First off, these women dont' have the same sex education we do in north america, so they don't fully understand contraception and conception - they often do not have the resources to make an informed decision let alone purchase contraception. Never mind the fact that a great deal of women are raped, either by strangers, family members, or their own husbands. Access to birth control at least helps prevent the unwanted pregnancies that result. Some of these mothers that are jumping out of the plane as you put it are 12 years old. Girls are dying because they get raped before their maturing bodies can carry a child and you think it's just some yuppy chicks not being cautious?

Mr Harper who you are?Canadian?or one of the world politic who rise on the position in NEW World Order gowerment??????

for the people who suggest that these women know what they are getting into and are thus at fault for unwanted deaths. think on this for a moment... in poor countries, women and men are not trained or taught sex ed. they don't have money to go to school for even a basic education. things like overpopulation, starvation, and poverty, stricken with disease, is common. In parts of Africa, they still believe that a man can get rid of aids by having sex with an innocent "aka babies, young children". We have the pleasure of knowing what we are doing because we are in a country that promotes knowledge and learning. we should know better and WE should know what we are doing. But how can someone, in a poor, developing nation, prevent births and potential deaths, without the knowledge and assistance or the contraceptives to go with it?

Wrong. You mean the government no longer represents the invalid percentage of the population. All the fools who believe it is "cool" to be liberal and stupid will not be considered part of the population that deserves a say. In fact, the Conservative government is smart in blocking out these peoples' opinions.

On topic now, it is good to teach these women in these countries how to make a decision. It is a waste of money to keep giving them a solution instead of teaching them how to make good decisions. That good money could be used on other good causes as well. Think before you talk.

This is another example of the stupidity of the Harper Conservative governement. Either Canada is pledged to support these other nations or it is not--but stop pretending to want to help!

The subject and act of contraception inevitably brings up the subject of abortion. Canadian aid to other countries should not involve the promotion and assistance in carrying out abortions as a method of birth control. This matter should be the control of each individual country, including cases involving rape, incest and medical abnormalities. In Canada itself, too many people turn a blind eye to the wide use of abortion as a remedy for the "unwanted" or "unplanned" pregnancy.

Another poster brings up the subject of homosexuality with a negative reference to the government. With the exception of only a few countries including Canada, all other countries of the world exclude the male homosexual culture and its universal practice of anal intercourse from the definition of marriage. I, for one, do believe that the homosexual community should have a peaceful and productive life, and that is the case in such democracies such as Britain and France who define the word "marriage" as a union between a man and a woman.

contraception is a pill or condom that prevents pregnancy not an abortion that kills
a unborn child and i agree with the PM on this one and why should we spent our tax dollars in countries and not help our seniors at home ..

The prime minister is a zealot and a thug. What else is new? I appreciate that he has managed to steer the country through an economic crisis but he simply isn't a good leader or a good man. He sets the agenda and the only thing that has been on the agenda is political games.

These people no longer represent the majority of Canadians. There is no doubt at all that contraception saves lives and now no doubt that the conservatives are really a right wing religious organization. Please spare us your personal beliefs Mr. Harper and if you can't do that please resign and just maybe you'll leave Canada in a position on the world stage that we can climb back up from. I have never heard such idiocy in my almost 60 years. Next thing you know he'll be dragging in that it is unpatriotic to practice birth control and that our soldiers are fighting for the unborn and that marijuana is somehow to blame for poor maternal health. Please, please just go away.

Sounds like the government reeks of misogyny!

The Prime Minister is right!

No is forcing women to have an abortion. They should know the risks before making a decision.

Just like when someone decides to go skydiving. If the parachute doesn't open it's your own fault for jumping out of the airplane.

I'm disgusted but not surprised. It is, after all, the same government that left gay rights out of the latest pamphlet for new Canadians, despite multiple recommendations to include it, and despite the fact that many immigrants to Canada come from countries that condone and even encourage the abuse of homosexuals.