Talked with Brian Lilley about the new bubble zone on CFRA last night.
What our governments would like is for abortion to be wholeheartedly accepted and applauded. So when anyone stands up and says otherwise, they have to quash that sentiment. That’s what is happening with the new restrictions around abortion clinics and with the Canada Summer Jobs program–no one should be allowed to say abortion is a bad choice. Hence also the heavy dose of Charter talk–abortion rights are nowhere in it, but maybe if we talk about them in that way, we can make it so?
The fact that there are, in the case of the bubble zone regulations, such strong punishments associated with free speech in the bubble zone shows just how brittle the pro-choice side is. On the one hand, women going to get abortions are freestanding, independent and strong–they’ve made their decision, so pro-choicers would lead us to believe. On the other hand, a flyer, or simply seeing someone with a sandwich board condemning abortion apparently causes such distress that it can’t be had for 50 metres outside the clinic.
So which is it?
We pay for abortion. We fund pro-choice groups. We don’t give real medical information to women considering abortion (Watch the movie Hush, please). And in this climate, we say that pro-lifers need to be Even Further Stigmatized?
I think pro-lifers are more effective than we give ourselves credit for. I also think the inclination of Canadians is more pro-life than even pro-lifers realize. The stats show the mushy middle leans toward wanting restrictions on abortion in certain circumstances. Only 16% of Canadians think abortion is acceptable at any time. That leaves a whole lot more Canadians who are conflicted. And that is a scary thing for pro-choice people–got to ramp up the propaganda campaign.
The thing about bubbles is, they pop.
by 
I volunteer at a pregnancy resource centre. Two of our current clients came to us after someone standing outside the abortion clinic said to a woman going in “Are you sure you want to do this?”
Two women, who were so sure and confident of their decision to abort that their minds were changed by a simple question uttered by a stranger. I think that more women are more ambivalent then we realize.
And these women are so grateful and happy that they changed their minds! Two babies are now alive that would have been dead had their been no pro-lifers outside of the clinic those days.
It sometimes seems to me that this in the pro-choice camp would rather a woman who is ambivalent about having an abortion go ahead and have the abortion, rather than not. It seems to me that they think that if you so much as think for a minute that you can’t raise this child, you should abort rather than bring a child into an imperfect world where you might struggle a bit. It seems to me that they think that women aren’t strong enough to rise above their struggles.
And it’s the pro-lifers who are considered the misogynists…
I’ve always been bemused that the very pro-choice activists who say women are so strong, so independent, so sure of their decision–are worried at the prospect of yes, a stranger asking a question. If a stranger asking a question causes self-doubt, then those women were never sure in the first place and they shouldn’t proceed.
Actually, Andrea, the percentage of Canadians who think a person should be able to access abortion whenever s/he needs one is 53%.
https://globalnews.ca/news/3290006/support-for-abortion-rights-strong-in-canada-but-poll-shows-we-are-middle-of-the-pack-globally/
Here’s something I don’t understand. Why aren’t all religious groups mad at Centre for Bioethical Reform? It’s their over-the-top tactics that caused the outrage behind the Summer Jobs kerfuffle.
Fern Hill, glad you are back in all your nitpicking ways. Here’s the source on the 16%.
“Of these two issues, abortion is the more polarizing,
That said, relatively few people align themselves with either extreme on this issue. Just one-in-six (16%) say abortion is “morally acceptable anytime,” and even fewer (14%) say it’s “morally wrong under any circumstances.””
http://angusreid.org/morality/
Moi, nitpicking? Ha. You are trying to equate morality with legality. I think crisis pregnancy centres, aka fake clinics, are morally wrong to lie to and manipulate misguided people who wind up in them. But I don’t deny they have a right to exist.
See the difference? “Don’t approve of x” is not equivalent to “X should be banned.”
As for van Maren, I admit he’s pretty good at the “you can’t fire me, I quit” shtick.
But if I were the director of a summer children’s program who never had a bit of trouble getting Canada Summer Jobs grants before, I’d be more than a bit miffed that the grandstanding gore pornography of CCBR brought this trouble to us.
How is it CCBR’s fault? Recall that they tried to warn everyone how bad Trudeau would be back in 2015. They were right.
And why I’m not mad at anyone:
https://convivium.ca/articles/who-ever-expected