Abortion Details The Issue

"I think all members of this House, whether they agree with it or not, understand that abortion is legal in Canada, and this government, myself included, has made it very clear that the government does not intend to change the law in this regard."
Prime Minister Stephen Harper

That volatile, conflicted topic of legal abortion has erupted yet again. Indication that clarification of the legality of therapeutic abortions in Canada is past due. At the very least, guidelines with respect to time of pregnancy. There will always be exceptions when abortions must be conducted therapeutically when the mother's life is in danger, and when the fetus has been so horribly compromised that to continue to live birth is impractical.

And discussing the issue frankly and neutrally (if such a thing could even be possible) would at least place it where it belongs, on the back burner of accepted if reluctant, compromise between women's needs and rights, and society's expectations. A majority of Canadians accept the need for medically induced abortions to allow women to make decisions about this most critical personal topic. And a minority would, if they could, put a halt entirely to such procedures.

That minority includes MPs Maurice Vellacott of Saskatoon-Wanuskwein, Leon Benoit of Vegreville-Wainright and Wladyslaw Lizon of Mississauga East-Cooksville who took it upon themselves to write to RCMP Commissioner Bob Paulson on House of Commons letterhead, requesting that an investigation be undertaken of the 'hundreds of homicides that take place in Canada in the guise of therapeutic abortions'.

"The possibility of numerous breaches of the Criminal Code -- to be specific, homicide -- in Canada which need to be investigated. These killings appear to have started out as attempted abortions but the babies were born alive", the letter points out, citing Statistics Canada data used in a blog that, "From 2000 to 2009 in Canada, there were 491 abortions of 20 weeks gestation that resulted in live births [a national rate of about one per week].

"This means that the aborted child died after it was born. These abortions are coded [with a Most Responsible Diagnosis (MRDx) designation] of P96.4, or "Termination of pregnancy, affecting fetus and newborn."  This is a deliberate use of statistics with no intention to include those irritating explanatory details, used by ideological challengers to Canada's acceptance of legal abortion.

Although late-stage abortions that might lead to live births are not subject to legal restrictions, doctors perform those abortions almost exclusively in instances where the developing fetus has an unsurvivable anomaly; absent a vital organ for example, or when proceeding with the pregnancy represents a risk to the mother's life. Post 24-weeks' pregnancy is it hardly possible for a woman to have an elective abortion in this country.

About 5% of abortions occur after 17 weeks' gestation, a slim fraction of those with evidence of life. Out of about 93,755 abortions nationwide in 2009, a mere 67 were registered as 'live births' and those qualifying as such may live only notionally, having briefly been seen to breathe, or give involuntary muscle contractions before dying. Evidence of life  may include "beating of the heart, pulsation of the umbilical cord, definite movements of voluntary muscles".

In law, such brief instances of "life" observed must result in the completion of a document explaining the situation, according to the Criminal Code. In instances where a fetus is diagnosed with fetal anencephaly where it fails to develop a brain, "Fetus was born alive and survived for one hour", may be the official description of the event.

These inconvenient details describing the reality behind what the letter-writers to the RCMP describe as culpable homicide are irrelevant to their argument, however.  Their goal is to subtly place vexing questions in the minds of the public and to leave moral doubt respecting the situation, in an effort to raise a hue and cry over what they believe to be a national crime; abortion.

The Prime Minister is correct in denying that his government has any interest in re-visiting the issue of abortion itself and its societal need and legality. But it remains a matter whose delicate details remain unresolved, and open to the possibility of abuse, and that is what should be finally settled.