Justin Trudeau’s attempt to play wedge politics with the abortion issue fell flat at last week’s French language debate. This must have been disappointing for him as his position has been clear for some time: he supports every form of abortion – including for the sole purpose of terminating the lives of girl babies simply because they are female – at every stage of pregnancy. He even issued an edict stating that anyone who questioned the status quo was not welcome in the Liberal party.
The de facto position of Thomas Mulcair and Stephen Harper is, in principle, no different. When questioned directly by Trudeau last Friday, Harper said the same as he has been saying for years, “My position for 10 years has been I don’t intend to re-open this debate.”
As yet, all three leaders have a realistic shot at making 24 Sussex their home after the October 19 election. And all three continue to treat pre-born children as a political liability.
Messrs. Harper, Mulcair and Trudeau are without excuse. If elected, it is their duty to enact laws for the benefit of all Canadians. Their complete disregard for the human rights of any children in the womb effectually means that they are complicit in the deaths of 100,000 members of the human family every year.
In effect Stephen Harper, Thomas Mulcair and Justin Trudeau all support sex-selective abortion. They care less about the fact that girls are targeted for abortion much more frequently than boys. Their refusal to act is a sign that they endorse this misogynistic practice in Canada.
All three leaders also support late-term abortion. They show no regard for the reality that every year thousands of babies lose their lives by being aborted in the latter stages of pregnancy, after the stage when children of the same age are born, survive outside of the womb, and live productive lives as Canadian citizens.
Canada is the envy of millions of people around the world precisely because of our high standard of human rights and equal rights for everyone. Yet, when it comes to the treatment of pre-born children, we are in the company of only North Korea and China – two countries with less than stellar human rights records.
This complete absence of any legal protection for pre-born humans is both the fault of our judicial and legislative branches of government. The Supreme Court of Canada is partially to blame as it struck down all existing abortion regulations in the infamous R. v. Morgentaler decision in 1988. To their credit though, they did toss the ball back to Parliament, instructing the legislative body to enact provisions that would “protect fetal rights at some point.”
Canada’s lack of protections for children in the womb at any stage of pregnancy puts us in an extreme position by any international standard. It’s time our political leaders recognized that their cowardice towards the smallest members of the human family is having real life consequences.
Legislation that would ban sex-selective and late-term abortion would bring us a little closer in line with every civilized country in the world. It would also allow our courts to make rulings that are legitimately reflective of what we know about the science of embryology, as well as a proper understanding of human rights.
It’s unknown who will form government after October 19th. What we do know is that Canada’s next Prime Minister intends to continue supporting, and even celebrating, the legal void which allows for the horrific practices of sex-selective abortion and late-term abortion to continue.
Dietrich Bonhoeffer, an anti-Nazi dissident who was sent to jail and eventually killed for his work in fighting the Holocaust once said, “Silence in the face of evil is itself evil: God will not hold us guiltless. Not to speak is to speak. Not to act is to act.”
The injustices of slavery and the Holocaust continued unchecked until people like Abraham Lincoln, William Wilberforce and Dietrich Bonhoeffer fought back. So also the injustice of sex-selective and late-term abortion will continue until Canadians rise up and demand action from our political leaders. We are not accountable for their inaction, but God help us if we decide to join them in continuing to trample the human rights of our pre-born neighbours.