Archives for 2010

I saw the headline to this story and started worrying, but it turns out they meant “right to die” in the good old-fashioned sense of being allowed to refuse treatment even when doctors think there’s still hope.

Doctors could be struck off if they fail to respect the wishes of terminally ill patients who want to die by refusing treatment, the General Medical Council is to announce.

They must allow the terminally ill to refuse food and water if the patient does not want treatment that prolongs their life and must abide by “living wills” in which patients specify in advance that they do not want to be resuscitated.

I’m sure there are still plenty of problems with patients whose will cannot be clearly expressed (for whatever reason) or with patients who seem to be pressured into death by relatives, and who knows what all. But in principle, if you’re determined not to continue treatment come what may, then your wishes ought to be respected.

Spector on Charest, and Margaret Wente who says relax, abortion rights aren’t threatened, and write a cheque to Planned Parenthood.

Ha!

A loving mother who kisses her child’s boo-boos may be providing more health benefits than she knows.

New research indicates that early childhood experiences can have a lasting effect on health by influencing a person’s risk for chronic inflammation, the immune reaction that is the body’s first line of defense against disease. Moms who soothe a child can help reduce stress, calming the hormones that can contribute to inflammation, the study suggests.

I wonder if it works with daycare workers?

Nope, not us:

QUEBEC – Members of the Quebec National Assembly unanimously adopted a resolution Wednesday calling on the government of Prime Minister Stephen Harper to respect free choice and access to abortion, to end its ambiguity on the issue and to stop cutting funding to women’s groups who favour abortion. Members agreed to transmit the motion to the Senate and House of Commons in Ottawa. Carole Poirier, Parti Québécois MNA for Hochelaga-Maisonneuve in Montreal presented the motion after Cardinal Marc Ouellet called for re-criminalizing abortion.

I love it when people panic like that.

…as one columnist sees it.

The rejection earlier this spring of a Liberal motion instructing the Prime Minister to include contraception (including abortion) in his G8 maternal health initiative did not offer an accurate reading of the mood of the current House on the issue of domestic access to abortion.

This just supports the statements Andrea made earlier about consensus and the status quo. The motion did represent the ‘mood’ of the country, it simply didn’t uphold the status quo the small but powerful pro-abortion extremists have been championing over the past 20 years. Canada’s statistics have continuously demonstrated a strong moral divide and a public lacking information when it comes to the actual legislation. This discussion is long overdue.

I will not be the first one, at this late stage, to highlight for Barbara Kay that abortion-rights activists will not find anything she’s written here remotely reasonable. They will fight it all tooth and nail. Let’s keep in mind that the only people happy with the status quo right now are very radical, very extreme pro-abortion types. But they have voice in the law schools, amongst judges, in the education system and finally, in the media.

Don’t just blame politicians, then, for not engaging in this debate. Blame those who uphold the status quo because every time a pro-abortion woman pipes up with just one simple word: “Discrimination!” everyone kowtows and scuttles away in scared silence. (If a pro-life woman stands up and says: “Injustice!” she’s being controlled by the patriarchy and can generally be ignored.)

The problem with abortion is that there never has been a consensus. The topic is on permanent high boil for so many, and therefore any opportunity at all to discuss it brings it up again and again. In short, it’s precisely because of the total and complete lack of consensus that the issue keeps coming up. I personally think Prime Minister Harper must deeply regret this maternal health initiative. But it’s too late now.

So, when Ignatieff says this, it’s pretty laughable:

But let’s be clear: we didn’t end the 25-year consensus on a woman’s right to choose. They did,” he told the $500-a-plate crowd of close to 1,000 at the Sheraton Centre Hotel.

And actually, there’s nothing more motivating for me than to hear patronizing liberal types declare there’s a consensus, simply because they, and their friends at the Granite Club, all agree.

But you knew I’d say that…

Catholic Church official condemns abortion.

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Andrea adds: Wow. That is hot off the press.