High time. Watch this.

Sex selection abortion. The concealing of abortion-related stats. Late term abortion. Discussions over when life begins. And now, the New Abortion Caravan, thanks to the Canadian Centre for Bioethical Reform, here to right the wrong that these old-school feminist women inflicted on us in 1970.

Change is in the air and that’s good news.

Whether we make statistics available about abortion does not divide itself on pro-life versus pro-choice lines.

Seriously! When ProWomanProLife was started, it wasn’t supposed to be all serious, all the time. Just Say No.

So here’s a Slate article I do agree with. I’d add you should just say no to any wedding gown that doesn’t allow you free movement to dance. Or walk, as is sometimes the case.

I personally also believe you should say no to the dress pictured above, which, based on less than extensive “research” was the only non-strapless wedding dress photo I could find on short notice. But that’s totally personal.

Because “There is no avoiding the issue, except through suppression.”

I thought this comment on the now infamous Time breastfeeding cover was interesting. Unique. And I appreciate unique.

I had thought this was a spectacular failure of a mother, not necessarily because she chooses to breastfeed that long but because she would subject herself to the objectification this photo brings. Not just herself, but, more importantly, the child, who will always be known as “the kid in the Time cover.” But it could just as well be seen as the spectacular failure of the father, too. Bad parenting, all around.

…will not be written about this woman, “Linda”, who, married for less than a year, got pregnant and decided to have an abortion in favour of quiet mornings spent in bed, jogging or gardening.

When I first received this article, I was angry. I sent it to Jennifer Derwey to avoid it because it is from her neck of the woods. Then I spent the weekend thinking about it.

For every woman experiencing fear, trauma, and a really difficult time in her life when she gets unexpectedly pregnant, there are one or two who are simply so lacking in courage and selflessness that they can’t face up to nine months of pregnancy and then give a baby away. Those could be the nine most difficult months of their lives, I acknowledge. But they would have done something for the greater good. Something amazing for a family who can’t have kids. Women desperate to adopt abound.

But instead, Linda’s story goes a little like this: Protagonist A is living life. Protagonist A hits on difficulty. Protagonist A chooses easy road, skirts the actual issue entirely and continues to live in exactly the same way as she did before. Cue soaring music? I don’t think so.

This makes for a lame story because it is lame.

We admire people when they do brave things. And here’s the thing. You can’t have it both ways. Many abortion-rights activists want to claim making the abortion choice is ever so brave. But that’s not what Linda is saying. She’s saying it’s routine. That many women choose abortion for many different reasons. She asks me not to bat an eye. Fine. But don’t tell me next thing that your decision to abort was courageous in its own right.

I’m sorry there are women out there like Linda who are so lacking in courage and creativity that they prefer quiet mornings of gardening to a question mark, to gift giving, to the opportunities that open up when we are selfless.

PS I have never, EVER thought that women having abortions are “sluts who aren’t using birth control,” as she puts it.

PPS Birth control is mentioned twice in this column. And the reason for that is to say, “Look at me! I was super responsible, so this pregnancy is not my fault. Therefore, I should not have to take responsibility for it.” Whereas my worldview is less judgmental than hers. If you are having sex–there is a chance you are going to get pregnant no matter how “responsible” you are.

PPPS Véronique mentioned to me in conversation post-CBC interview that there is a continuum on the life issue. There are those of us who see the embryo/fetus/developing child as being of inestimable worth. There are those who see no worth at all, like Linda; hence her ability to go and have an abortion in favour of quiet mornings. But the rest of everyone is in between in this country today. That’s why we have to discuss the issue of what life is, and when it begins…why it matters.

I wrote this column in the Post today. Feel free to get in on the comments if you feel so inclined. The gist of it:

The truth is that it is better health care, not abortion, that substantially improves maternal mortality rates — access to skilled birth attendants and access to maternal health-care services. Higher education levels for women also serve to decrease maternal mortality. In light of these findings, abortion rights activists should stop making sweeping predictions that restricting abortion will result in skyrocketing maternal deaths and stop insisting that abortion is the key to improving women’s health. The data simply don’t back up such claims.

I saw this story last week through pro-life media. But I’m really glad to see it hit the mainstream press. Inspirational.

I’m late to post my photos, but here are a couple.

I’ve been tracking with this blog for a long while and today there is an article in the Toronto Star about the family. Lindsey Yeskoo, quoted in the article, is mother to Emily, after whom Emily’s House is named.

Lindsey Yeskoo is one of those parents. Her daughter Emily has a rare neurodegenerative disease (metachromatic leukodystrophy) for which there is no cure. At the age of 10, she was given a maximum of three years to live. But Emily’s story didn’t unfold as expected. For one thing, she is still alive at 19. For another, she has become the inspiration for Toronto’s first pediatric hospice.

Moved by her fierce will to live and her desire to make life better for other kids with life-limiting conditions, people who knew her or had heard about her came together to raise $5.5 million (on top of the province’s $2 million) to build “Emily’s House.” It will offer terminally ill children a bridge between the hospital and home. It will offer parents who care for these fragile youngsters a chance to take a break for an afternoon or a day or a weekend. It will give kids an opportunity to laugh and learn and play no matter what their prognosis.

It’s a construction site right now, part of the redevelopment of the historic Don Jail in Riverdale. But in December the doors of the long-derelict Governor’s House — once the stately residence of the “head gaoler” — will reopen as Emily’s House, with a modern three-storey addition to meet current medical standards.

Yeskoo hopes her daughter will be there. So does Emily. But she can’t plan; she can only wish.

Lindsey and Emily Yeskoo are a tremendous inspiration to me through their blog. Lindsey seems to have a grace that regular folks (namely me) don’t have.