BY RYAN GOODYEAR
The seedy, dangerous world of backroom abortions are a thing of the past for those of us privileged enough to be born in North America. Most of us would like to keep abortion as a safe and sterile option for women not yet ready for the massive responsibility that is parenting. However, Kitchener Centre MP Stephen Woodworth is trying to change all this by introducing Motion 312.
The motion asks for a committee to be set up to help determine when a fetus becomes a human being. Woodworth’s argument for bringing this motion to the House of Commons is that the law for when a fetus becomes a human being was written before modern science could determine the actual transition.
To start with why this is wrong, I need to remind readers that our Prime Minister, Stephen Harper, has already publicly stated in the past that the abortion debate would not be reopened. Woodworth’s attempt to reopen this debate is a slap in the face to Canadian citizens, and by going behind Harper’s back, it is an insult to the Prime Minister.
Simply trying to determine when a fetus becomes a human is what Woodworth would like you to believe. However, anyone educated enough with the pro-life movement knows that Woodworth is trying to change the abortions laws in Canada. The fact that Woodworth is trying to start a debate on anything remotely associated with abortion is horrendous, especially after the people of Canada were promised it would not be an issue. Canadian citizens, especially those living in our region, should be outraged.
If Woodworth and the rest of the pro-life movement were somehow successful in changing the moment in which a human being stops being a fetus, they would, in turn, surely move the latest date an abortion was possible back, all the while trying to convince those not educated on the subject that the reason for doing this would be that too many abortions are performed late in the pregnancy.
This, of course, is not true; in my experience most of the statistics offered up by pro-life propagandists is grossly misleading. Pro-life followers state that most abortions occur later in pregnancy. The truth is 90 per cent of all abortions performed in Canada occur within the first 13 weeks. Merely .4 per cent occur after 20 weeks and none are performed beyond 24 weeks according to Planned Parenthood Waterloo.
If abortion was made illegal it would be one giant step backward for women’s rights. It would not only do nothing to deter the number of abortions needed but would actually increase the death rate of women by forcing those desperate enough to get one, to have it done in an unsafe, unsterile environment.
I urge the House of Commons to strike down Motion 312.
What is Journalism?