With 75% of the Conservative Party membership choosing to enshrine traditional marriage, have Tories found the courage to become the real alternative voters are desperately seeking?
Only at first glance. A resolution was passed stating a Conservative government would not support any abortion legislation.
By seeking the politically correct solution when the majority of MPs are pro-life, party faithful have predetermined another election cycle of “hidden agenda” rhetoric by the Left.
Head-in-the-sand philosophy on abortion was standard for Reform-Alliance and is not new for the Conservatives. MPs will continue hanging their heads as they apologize: “I am personally pro-life, but I won’t force my views. Please vote for me anyway.”
Meanwhile, the Liberal Party aggressively pushes an abortion-on-demand-up-to-the-ninth-month policy.
This means if the Conservatives are elected, Canada will remain the only democracy in the developed world with no limitations on abortion. There have been none since the Supreme Court Morgentaler decision in 1988.
Our government in Ottawa often looks to Europe for drug policy, why not abortion?
Germany and France both have a mandatory counselling requirement. German women pay for their own abortion “choice” and can’t have one after 12 weeks. France has a mandatory one-week waiting period and only allows abortions into the tenth week.
The biggest problem is that the Conservatives continue to deny late-term abortions take place in Canada.
There is no late-term monitoring mechanism. It is up to the discretion of the facility—and they deny they do it. Tell that to late-term abortion survivor Ximena Renaerts, the B.C. baby left to die in a bedpan in 1985. According to Terry O’Neill’s 1999 Report story, Ximena was awarded a record damage settlement from B.C.
Nurses forced to participate in late-term abortions in Foothills Hospital also went to the Alberta Report in 1999. The ensuing police investigation interviewed no witnesses, but the regional health authority did try to force the magazine to reveal its sources to find the whistle-blowing nurses.
In the U.S., Scott Peterson was recently convicted for a double murder of his wife and his unborn son, Conner. A fellow inmate has already warned Peterson he better watch his back as baby killers have the lowest status in prison.
There is nothing “scary” about limiting late-term abortions. Canadians in general appear more conservative on abortion than the “Conservative” Party.
In an Environics poll last fall, more than two-thirds of Canadians wanted some abortion restrictions, 68% favoured some legal protection before birth, 72% objected to taxpayer-funded abortion (except in cases of rape, incest or when the mother’s life is endangered), and 69% support women being informed about the risks of abortion and alternatives to it.
But don’t blame Stephen Harper—blame ongoing Preston Manning paralysis.
That’s the philosophy since the early days of Reform where “pro-life” MPs were encouraged to run and hide when the “A-word” was discussed and, if trapped, duck with the “democracy” or private member’s bill cover.
Hence, MPs with “personal opinions” and pro-life cards in their back pockets are allowed to hedge their legislative bets with “no policy.”
Because the Liberals are forcing same-sex marriage, the sleeping giant is now awake. It is time for the Conservative party to bring it home. Time to reach for real political realignment. It is time to embrace a “culture of life” by rejecting late-term abortion.
I am sure Ximena Renaerts would agree.
Copyright ? 2005 Janet L. Jackson.
Columnist for the Calgary Sun, Janet L. Jackson is also Executive Director of the Canadian Conservative Union. Through her work with conservative political action committees, Jackson has been an effective and prominent voice for preserving traditional marriage, religious freedom and free speech.
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