“This definition of human life may have made sense when leeches and bloodletting were standard.” says Ms. Ambler. Well done.
Now she is going through modern science. When the heart beats, independent movement at nine weeks, etc. Love it.
This hour of debate is worth it just for this. We will lose, but this is very crucial information to hear in the House of Commons.
Stella Ambler is making the point that this discussion/debate belongs in the Legislature. Very reasonable.
Gambling, prostitution: We are asked all the time to update laws, she says. Canadians deserve a little more courage, she says. Indeed.
Hurray. She’s in favour. And she’s a woman. Imagine that.
“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.