Like this from Jonathan Kay today. Writing about Vellacott et al.'s ridiculous grandstanding, he says:
The fact is that Canada is the only nation in the Western world without any abortion law. It is perfectly legal in Canada to have or perform an abortion — for any reason, or no reason at all — at 20, 25, 30 or 35 weeks gestation. This is a disturbing state of affairs.While this is true in the strictly legal sense, it is outrageously misleading.
There are no legal restrictions, but there are medical restrictions and regulations, worked out over the past 25 years by women and healthcare providers.
The facts are available.
• Fewer than 1% of abortions are carried out after 20 weeks' gestation.
• NO abortions are done after 24 weeks in Canada.
• There are very few doctors who will perform abortions past 20 weeks.
• The vast majority of these so-called late-term abortions are medically necessary because of catastrophic fetal anomaly or serious threat to the woman's life or health.
In other words, they are tragic endings of wanted pregnancies.
Yet these tragedies are routinely trotted out by heartless anti-choicers to be demonized as frivolous or irresponsible or convenient.
They have no compunction about trivializing a family's grief and loss as some silly woman's decision that she needs to fit into a bikini six months into her pregnancy.
You want to talk 'disturbing', Jonathan? Think of a woman going through the harrowing discovery of some horrible condition, the gut-wrenching decision on what to do about it, the painful and protracted process of a later-term abortion, and the ensuing grief and self-recrimination. (What did I do wrong?)
Now think of her reading your breezy brain-farts and reliving her experience.
That's disturbing.
Every fucking time this no-restrictions-at-all-for-all-nine-months canard gets an airing in the media, professional healthcare organizations should DEMAND that the outlet retract or clarify.
The Society of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists should assign someone to full-time Bullshit Watch. (Bloggers like me will help.)
They owe it to their patients.
*Actually, that so few people are aware of the facts might be seen as a good thing. Canadians believe that abortion is a private matter and assume that it is available if necessary.
