Tuesday, January 29, 2008

Circling the wagons on abortion

I almost missed this one - Jonathan Kay's How late is too late? It's part of the ongoing series of debates about abortion in the National Post.

Kay alludes to a powerful 'tribalism' on both sides of the issue, which no doubt contributes to the lack of compromise and serious debate.

He suggests that the mere fact that the pro-choicers are hasty to point out the fact that very few abortions "take place in Canada 'for social reasons' beyond 20 weeks, and none beyond 24 weeks", exposes their discomfort about the procedure at some point, even if they are reluctant to admit it:

...If the "dominant ideology of the unborn child" is a spurious construct invented by patriarchal moralists, why does it matter if that so-called unborn child weighs one pound or five? Why strike such defensive postures against an issue that no one in the room saw fit to discuss?

The answer to this last question, I think, is that these women are not so doctrinaire as they pretend. Within their own minds, they do wrestle with these important moral questions -- as any intelligent person must. But when in public, they censor themselves. Locked in what they feel to be a tribal culture war against pro-lifers, the pro-choice camp allows itself no nuance. This is essentially the reason Canada has no abortion law: Any stirring of legislative action arouses such tribal war fury among pro-choicers as to send politicians scurrying...

For a real insight into how the pro-choice mind works, read Heather Mallick's, Privacy and Pregnancy courtesy of our beloved Mothercorps.


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Abortion statistics available here.

Friday Update - John Williamson on subsidizing abortion: No birth, no benefits.

Monday Update - A Canadian controversy - Joanne Byfield.

Garson Romalis: Why I am an abortion doctor - Post.


7 comments:

Drew Costen said...

For a real insight into how the pro-choice mind works, read Heather Mallick's, Privacy and Pregnancy courtesy of our beloved Mothercorps.

Good article, thanks for the link. I can't think of any reason to view it negatively.

Joanne (True Blue) said...

Her last line: It's no one's business but your own.

Except that she wants taxpayers to continue to fund her private business.

Drew Costen said...

Except that she wants taxpayers to continue to fund her private business.

And I'm more than happy to continue doing so.

Anonymous said...

(Instead of using each sides names for themselves, I'll use the names they call each other)

The "how late is too late" discomfort Kay claims to exist on the pro-death side is matched by the "how wrongly conceived is wrongly conceived enough to be killable" discomfort I see on the anti-choice side regarding rape and incest.

These attempts at compromise bring about "abortion only under certain conditions", conditions that are hard to demonstrate exist or not in the limited time available.

Separate legal status should begin either at conception or at birth.


The biggest non-sequitur is that being tax payer funded has anything to do with it. If abortion is murder, then why is it somehow worse if it is publicly funded? If abortion is merely a kind of amputation, why should it be considered bad that the taxpayer funds it?

Anonymous said...

tch said:And I'm more than happy to continue doing so.

And I, on the other hand, am not. tch, if you would care to send me your address, I will be happy to send you an invoice for the portion that I do not wish to fund...

Anonymous said...

I definately want to comment on this, but it will have to wait- I have a couple of interviews today.

but just as a teaser, malick's column- other than the comment "It's no one's business but your own"- does not describe my views as a pro-choice female.

Drew Costen said...

And I, on the other hand, am not. tch, if you would care to send me your address, I will be happy to send you an invoice for the portion that I do not wish to fund...

How about we consider it even for the things the government funds that I don't agree with that you might. :)