(CNSNews.com) – Secretary of State Hillary Clinton waded into an explosive political debate in Canada Tuesday, with remarks on abortion certain to have embarrassed her hosts at the end of a two-day Group of Eight meeting.

After a disclaimer that she would not speak for Canada, Clinton proceeded to lay out a position in opposition to that taken by conservative Prime Minister Stephen Harper’s government, linking maternal health promotion in poor countries to “access to legal, safe abortion.”

Earlier this year, Harper announced that Canada would place the promotion of maternal and child health in the developing world at the center of its leadership of the G8...