Regina versus Morgentaler 1988
Pro-choice is a delicate appellation describing the acceptance of the right of a woman to decide whether she is prepared to, willing to, able to, lend her body to the temporary efficiency of enabling another human life. Pro-life is a designation carefully selected by those who vehemently deny this as a legal and social right-of-self-determination to women, with the claim that aborting a foetus is tantamount to murder, clothing themselves self-righteously in the teguments of those to whom life is precious.
As though those who declare their intention to surrender the nascent life they begin to carry don't value life. To carry a foetus to term - deliver a baby that is unwanted is a moral burden that women must accept, rather than cast off, even with the understanding that because this child is not wanted, it will not be prized, loved and cherished - is obviously not representative of an acceptable rationale. A foetus that is of immature development, nowhere close to viability, is considered by passionate anti-abortionists to be a human life by its very existence.
Which, reasonably observed, represents very good reason for them to practise their beliefs personally, without insisting that others who don't subscribe to their dogmatic insistence do the same. There are many in Canada who feel that the current situation of legal limbo, with no law specific to the question of abortion, only a situation where a law making abortion illegal has been struck down, is untenable and morally unfeasible, bordering on the criminal.
Which has caused some from among the 'pro-life' community to take dramatic action on their own, in their frenzied attempts to persuade women intent on aborting their foetuses, through unlawful interventions on private property around abortion clinics. And violence, in presumed retribution against medical doctors who set themselves up as abortion-providers hasn't been unknown. There have been threats, and there have been murders.
Whereas the pro-choice group doesn't resort to threats, even when persecuted and demonized beyond endurance. Nor do they resort to violence, even though they may feel, at times, like throttling their condemners. Their resentment at the irritation they feel passes quickly, as they are quite simply capable of picking themselves up and trudging on. The fires of their passion don't flare as violent pathologies against their detractors.
Canada sees approximately a half-million pregnancies each year, with three live births to one abortion. The medical procedure itself has not been demonstrated to produce harmful psychological effects, although many dispute this. One would hope that the decision to proceed with an abortion is a well-thought-out determination, weighing all of a woman's personal needs and options. Yet since abortion is a procedure of such ill repute, there's little wonder some woman may suffer doubts after the fact.
Hospital discharge notes indicate a 98.56% rate of lack of complications such as haemorrhages or infection. Most abortions take place well before 12 weeks of gestation; the balance take place between 20 to 24 weeks. Current statistics indicate some 400 abortions after 20 weeks' gestation.
The freedom Canadian women enjoy today to seek out an abortion if that is what they prefer rather than carrying a foetus to full term, owes entirely to the personal sacrifices made by Dr. Henry Morgentaler, a Montreal-based physician dedicated to assisting women to this surgical procedure. His prosecution and imprisonment galvanized Canadian women to protest and lobby parliaments, provincial and federal, on his behalf and that of women.
Which led directly - after a relentless campaign of almost a decade - to the decision of the Supreme Court. Yet even now, two decades after the Supreme Court of Canada decriminalized abortion in Canada, women living in rural areas and in particular provinces are unable to receive timely abortions.
The issue is a living monster of a divide between two constituencies, both 'pro', each invested in the severely polarized issue that simply will not go away.
As though those who declare their intention to surrender the nascent life they begin to carry don't value life. To carry a foetus to term - deliver a baby that is unwanted is a moral burden that women must accept, rather than cast off, even with the understanding that because this child is not wanted, it will not be prized, loved and cherished - is obviously not representative of an acceptable rationale. A foetus that is of immature development, nowhere close to viability, is considered by passionate anti-abortionists to be a human life by its very existence.
Which, reasonably observed, represents very good reason for them to practise their beliefs personally, without insisting that others who don't subscribe to their dogmatic insistence do the same. There are many in Canada who feel that the current situation of legal limbo, with no law specific to the question of abortion, only a situation where a law making abortion illegal has been struck down, is untenable and morally unfeasible, bordering on the criminal.
Which has caused some from among the 'pro-life' community to take dramatic action on their own, in their frenzied attempts to persuade women intent on aborting their foetuses, through unlawful interventions on private property around abortion clinics. And violence, in presumed retribution against medical doctors who set themselves up as abortion-providers hasn't been unknown. There have been threats, and there have been murders.
Whereas the pro-choice group doesn't resort to threats, even when persecuted and demonized beyond endurance. Nor do they resort to violence, even though they may feel, at times, like throttling their condemners. Their resentment at the irritation they feel passes quickly, as they are quite simply capable of picking themselves up and trudging on. The fires of their passion don't flare as violent pathologies against their detractors.
Canada sees approximately a half-million pregnancies each year, with three live births to one abortion. The medical procedure itself has not been demonstrated to produce harmful psychological effects, although many dispute this. One would hope that the decision to proceed with an abortion is a well-thought-out determination, weighing all of a woman's personal needs and options. Yet since abortion is a procedure of such ill repute, there's little wonder some woman may suffer doubts after the fact.
Hospital discharge notes indicate a 98.56% rate of lack of complications such as haemorrhages or infection. Most abortions take place well before 12 weeks of gestation; the balance take place between 20 to 24 weeks. Current statistics indicate some 400 abortions after 20 weeks' gestation.
The freedom Canadian women enjoy today to seek out an abortion if that is what they prefer rather than carrying a foetus to full term, owes entirely to the personal sacrifices made by Dr. Henry Morgentaler, a Montreal-based physician dedicated to assisting women to this surgical procedure. His prosecution and imprisonment galvanized Canadian women to protest and lobby parliaments, provincial and federal, on his behalf and that of women.
Which led directly - after a relentless campaign of almost a decade - to the decision of the Supreme Court. Yet even now, two decades after the Supreme Court of Canada decriminalized abortion in Canada, women living in rural areas and in particular provinces are unable to receive timely abortions.
The issue is a living monster of a divide between two constituencies, both 'pro', each invested in the severely polarized issue that simply will not go away.
Labels: Crisis Politics, Government of Canada
posted by Pieface | 5:27 PM
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