“Extending legal personhood to fetuses would jeopardize the status of abortion in CAnada,” says Mr. Pacetti. (True.) Then comes the fear mongering: “Where would the slippery slope take us? Would we also then limit what women can do while pregnant?”

Massimo Pacetti, Liberal, is speaking to the motion. He is repeating cliches. The debate is closed, and has been for many years, says he. “Old legislation is not necessarily bad legislation,” says he. “This government won’t decriminalize murder simply because the laws against it are very old,” he adds.

Bad example, Monsieur Pacetti.

This just in… A Rachel’s Vineyard Retreat from November 9 to 11 for women and men who are suffering from the pain of abortion in their past.

Email rvr_ottawa [@] yahoo.ca for more info.

A great post from the one and only Véronique. Tremendously encouraging for those who get pregnant unexpectedly in university.

Watch it here. In short, she was sexually abused as a child, got into drugs early, tried to commit suicide, found God, then got pregnant. Was told to abort but wouldn’t. And now we have Justin Bieber, whose life size cut out greets me every time I enter Shopper’s Drug Mart.

Good commentary on what this motion means from Kelly McParland in the National Post.

The impossibility of the situation is self-evident. “One does not magically transform from a non-human entity into a human being when one’s little toe pops out of the birth canal,” says Woodworth. Also obvious is the hidden agenda – which may not be Stephen Harper’s but is certainly Stephen Woodworth’s. Once it’s admitted that somewhere along the line a fertilized egg becomes human, it falls on the proper authorities — medical, political and legal — to establish when that moment is, and what to do about it. Ignoring it is no longer an option, since a human life is now involved. That’s why defenders of the status quo, such as NDP justice critic Francoise Boivin, are dead set against the question even being asked.

Meanwhile, Stephen Woodworth has sent out a press release asking people to make their views known with their MPs. More information about how to do so can be found on his web site.

An even-handed look at Hanna Rosin’s new book: The End of Men, thanks to Barbara Kay.

Men don’t seem to write about this subject. Off hand I can think of Kay Hymowitz, Barbara Kay and Kathleen Parker who have taken on this topic. Not that men have to write about this topic, but it seems to me that whether conservative or liberal, men aren’t going to listen to women for solutions here.

Woah. Low birthrates are a problem that are not easily corrected, apparently:

Would two hours of free child care inspire you to go make yourself a baby? Knowing that Denmark has one of the lowest birthrates in the world, and realizing that this could potentially put them out of business, a cluster of kindergartens there made that offer to parents. They have promised to provide two hours’ free childcare in the form of a party for the school children one evening this week, so that the parents can go to bed and make more babies.

I will refrain from repeating commentary that has been made before about the effects of the Pill, separating sex from children and generally living in a society that is not friendly to children. Of course, the author of the piece touches on none of those.

I, and many others, signed this declaration in support of Stephen Woodworth’s Motion 312.

This has nothing to do with abortion. Just an interesting if tragic item from the former DDR, East Germany. I think it’s good to be reminded of these moments in our recent past. I have a big picture on my office wall of the barbed wire that preceded the Berlin Wall, and a small child looking up at a soldier, asking to be picked up, over that barbed wire.