It's time to talk about abortion
Alone among developed countries, Canada has no abortion law. Is 'settling' for a non-decision any way for a democracy to behave?
ANDREW COYNE July 9, 2008 ANDREW COYNE-->
This is not about abortion. This is about democracy.
It is about how we decide things, and by what rules, and how we treat each other when we disagree. Indeed, it is about whether we are allowed to disagree; whether dissent on a contentious issue is respected, or even recognized; and whether, in the face of clear evidence over many years that an issue is not settled — that it was never settled — a democracy should be allowed at last to debate and decide it. Like a democracy.
The furor over Henry Morgentaler's appointment to the Order of Canada, on the other hand, now that is about abortion. There may be some who object out of a disinterested concern for fairness, on the principle that an honour bestowed on behalf of all of the people of Canada should not be given to a man whose life's work is, still, so profoundly upsetting to so many Canadians. But for most people, it's about abortion. In honouring him, we are honouring it, normalizing it, stamping it with the seal of approval.
Or rather not abortion, as such, but the legal void that surrounds it, which Morgentaler did so much to bring about: the extraordinary fact that, 20 years after the Supreme Court ruling that bears his name, this country still has no abortion law of any kind. It isn't that abortion — at any stage of a pregnancy, for any reason, and at public expense — is lawful in Canada. It is merely not unlawful. When it comes to abortion, we are literally a lawless society: the only country in the developed world that does not regulate the practice in any way.
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ANDREW COYNE July 9, 2008 ANDREW COYNE-->
Also at Macleans.ca:
The real scandal is the order itself
Let us work to abolish this dubious, vaguely offensive tradition
This is not about abortion. This is about democracy.
It is about how we decide things, and by what rules, and how we treat each other when we disagree. Indeed, it is about whether we are allowed to disagree; whether dissent on a contentious issue is respected, or even recognized; and whether, in the face of clear evidence over many years that an issue is not settled — that it was never settled — a democracy should be allowed at last to debate and decide it. Like a democracy.
The furor over Henry Morgentaler's appointment to the Order of Canada, on the other hand, now that is about abortion. There may be some who object out of a disinterested concern for fairness, on the principle that an honour bestowed on behalf of all of the people of Canada should not be given to a man whose life's work is, still, so profoundly upsetting to so many Canadians. But for most people, it's about abortion. In honouring him, we are honouring it, normalizing it, stamping it with the seal of approval.
Or rather not abortion, as such, but the legal void that surrounds it, which Morgentaler did so much to bring about: the extraordinary fact that, 20 years after the Supreme Court ruling that bears his name, this country still has no abortion law of any kind. It isn't that abortion — at any stage of a pregnancy, for any reason, and at public expense — is lawful in Canada. It is merely not unlawful. When it comes to abortion, we are literally a lawless society: the only country in the developed world that does not regulate the practice in any way.
read more...
Re: “...‘ ... Canada has no abortion law. ... this country still has no abortion law of any kind. ... It is merely not unlawful. ...’...”
ReplyDeleteCanada still has an abortion law.
Within the meaning of the Canadian Criminal Code, a “child becomes a human being” “during its birth” as a human being. The Criminal Code recognizes a “child” in “a living state” in the “body of its mother” “before” its birth as a human being.
A child, in the body of its mother, within the meaning of the Criminal Code, is that which could completely proceed, in a living state, from the body of its human mother, whether or not (a) it could ever breathe; (b) it could ever have an independent circulation; or (c) the navel string is severed.
Section 218 of the Criminal Code states:
“Every one who unlawfully abandons or exposes a child who is under the age of ten years, so that its life is or is likely to be endangered or its health is or is likely to be permanently injured,
(a) is guilty of an indictable offence and liable to imprisonment for a term not exceeding five years; or
(b) is guilty of an offence punishable on summary conviction and liable to imprisonment for a term not exceeding eighteen months.”.
It is unlawful in Canada to abandon or expose a child so that its life is endangered. Aborting a child involves abandoning or exposing a child so that its life is endangered. Thus, an artificially induced abortion of a child is unlawful in Canada.
People should have the “right to choose” to enforce Section 218 of the Canadian Criminal Code.
Hmmm... interesting point...
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