- Harper It's Coming Out Time

Submitted: 7:30am, PDT, 17 May '10 The Toronto Star
DiManno: Dropping the A-word, Rosie DiManno, 2010/05/17
http://www.thestar.com/news/canada/article/810313--dimanno-dropping-the-a-word#comments

Rosie Demanno makes a very interesting distinction that allows for a non-arbitrary manor of drawing the line.

There is no doubt considerable evidence regarding at what point a fetus could be 'delivered', as opposed to aborted, and survive even if it required all the most up-to-date methodology and equipment to so do.
It is not likely that a particular time in the pregnancy can be set that would apply to all situations. However, it may be the there are biological indicators that can be discerned in a practicable fashion that allow the woman and her doctors to determine that it could survive, with more than a mere doubt going in favour of 'delivery'.

She may makes another interesting inference that perhaps for most people who are 'pro-choice', not just women, "a queasy moral anxiety sets in over late-pregnancy abortion. One needn’t look to religion or science for leadership here. Most of us, I dare say, instinctively differentiate between a three-month fetus and a seven month fetus that can, if delivered at that stage, survive outside the womb".

My feeling is that abortion is a matter of personal conscience (and medical health, although I feel this is part of 'personal conscience') . And, I have a big problem with criminalization because of this.

So I am not sure and would have to think about it further, but she certainly raising some issues that might be useful to consider and investigate further.


Hébert: So much for Stephen Harper’s aim of keeping abortion off national agenda, The Toronto Star, 2010/05/16
http://www.thestar.com/news/canada/article/810319--hebert-so-much-for-stephen-harper-s-aim-of-keeping-abortion-off-national-agenda


Stephen Harper's and the Con's position represents the extreme extreme-right 'Theo-Con's'. Since coming to power, Harper, Peter Van Loans, Stockwell Day, etc al, have suppressed their extreme right wing ideology to give the appearance of gravitating towards the middle of the road. The reason I , of course, Harper and his Con's would be given the boot and he knows it. This has caused serious strains with the religious right that make up such a large faction of the Con core of die-hard supporters. These stresses can be seen in Alberta, the epi-centre of Con'ism and other regions as well (e.g. Quebec). Harper has to give some symbol that he is still really a Theo-Con but does not want to loose power doing it. Hence, he releases policies like that regarding family planning Internationally and withdrawing funding from NGO's that include policies regarding abortion as well as such social events as the Gay Rights Day Parade in Toronto. The 'tough-on-crime' is another.

The irony is that Harper is being very dishonest and hypocritical in order to keep the religious right on side. One might wonder why there is not more demanding more honesty in Harper's policies.

Some suggest that they don't want their tax dollars going to support abortion even if it is in another country. However, they miss the point of providing aid to other countries. It is not to compel, bribe, buy, coerce them to adopt our ideologies, but to help them. If the country in point allows abortion, that is their choice.

As UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon stated this last week in Ottawa to Harper and the Con's, "Where abortion is legal, it should be safe."

Lloyd MacILquham cicblog.com/comments.html