Welcome, Judith Timson! Welcome to my world. For years and years the government has funded abortions, supplied abortions, paid for them (since I started paying taxes) with my money. It wasn’t done in my name. And frankly, I don’t love the blood on my hands. In fact, this group was started so that women like you wouldn’t be the only ones to stand up at the time of the Morgentaler anniversary, to make a claim of “victory for women’s rights” as if you spoke for women everywhere. See, here’s the problem. You and your friends have been purportedly “representing” me in politics and the public square for quite some time. But you never did. It was frustrating, yes. So when you write this:
Here is a political question that for me, just won’t go away: In exactly whose name has the Harper government decided to withhold funds for access to safe abortion in their international maternal and child health initiative? Not in my name. And not in the names of countless Canadians who have relied for years on safe access to the procedure at government expense.
…I say, how do you like them apples?
Certainly, I’m glad you have a column, Judith, and can express yourself. You’re welcome to that. The point of this post is simply to highlight that for my entire life a pro-abortion status quo has been forced on me, pushing me to agree to some sort of “women’s right” that doesn’t exist.
Not in my name. Not in my name.
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Brigitte adds: Not in my name.
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Tanya adds: No, not in my name, either.
by 
Not in my name.
It was the fall of 1988. I was a brand new MD faculty member in a medical school. I went to a lecture by a physician and a lawyer, who were presenting a pro-choice view of the world to a gathering of medical students over lunch. As one who cries at Kraft cheese commercials, I had resolved to sit in the back row and say nothing. However, when a young man in the audience had the temerity to question the lawyer, she dismissed him altogether – being male, he apparently had no right to an opinion on abortion. She then said that she represented the ONLY view held by any young woman who was intelligent, educated and independent. I couldn’t stand it. I raised my hand, was recognized by the MC, stood up (in my white coat, stethoscope around my neck) and said, “I’m a young woman; I’m reasonably intelligent; I’ve just completed 25 years of formal education; I’m certainly independent; and you don’t speak for me!” I sat down again. Half of the audience gave me a standing ovation, while the other half stared at me, apparently appalled and wondering what planet I’d come from. Many of my colleagues still feel that way. Not much has changed, it seems.
Not in my name, either.
Not in my name, either!
Not in my name and you can take that to the bank
Not in my name.
Not in my name either!
Thank you Sheila, for having the courage to put a face and a voice to all the young, intelligent, educated and independent women who have had to sit anonymously for years and think to themselves….you don’t represent *me*!!
And thank you Andrea and PWPL ladies for giving us the voice to say not in my name!
Timson does speak for me. And for a majority of Canadians. Canada is a pro-choice country.
Check out the most recent — from April 1/10 — poll on it. http://www.ekospolitics.com/index.php/2010/04/canadians-decisively-pro-choice-on-abortion-april-1-2010/
It’s called tyranny of the majority. Pro-choicers are the majority in Canada. We call the shots.
I don’t like my taxes supporting war or polluting industries or corporate welfare, but I’m subject to the majority who seem not to mind.
Suck it up.
Not in my name …
Not in my name either x3 for my whole family
for years I added a note to my taxes, expressing my objection to my taxes being used to pay for abortions. I think I need to resume doing that. definitely not in my name!!!
Hey there to fern hill who doesn’t speak for the tiny babies and there finger nails. If one choses to have an abortion, if gov’t is paying for it, then gov’t should be responsible for the consequences resulting from abortion. It’s the depravitity of man.
Not in my name and the millions of babies who have no voice.
So suck that up fern
Not in my name. This issue is a slap in the face of democracy. In most countries it is the courts that made the distinctions between human beings to allow the holocausts to occur and paid by taxes. It is the media that continually slanders anyone that dares to stick up for the little ones. The media is the leader of the status quo. What they say is what goes. Thank goodness for the internet.
Not in my name for my whole family of four
Fern dear,
Not for very long. We tend to copy the States and are usually behind them. They had legal abortion first and are rejecting it more and more.
Enjoy your majority…..it won’t last very much longer.
Abortion is a choice/elective procedure, those who want it should pay for it.
I ditto the idea of a pro-woman/pro-life march; it may help these poor-choicers realize that they are NOT speaking IN MY NAME.
Not in my name either.
@quiet footprints, er, no.
If you’d bother to read the link to the poll, you’d see that the numbers haven’t moved for a decade. Canada is and will continue — increasingly even as we become more urban, more diverse — to be a pro-choice country.
Definitely not in my name, murder is murder, no matter how it is done to whom. I definitely resent every penny of my tax dollar that funds abortions
Not in my name. Ever. Nor in the name of my husband or my eight children. And boy, are they busy educating their friends and neighbours.
(fern- invoking ‘ekos’ ? this week? lol)
fern
The majority of Canadians oppose tax-sponsored abortion.
You conveniently ignore that fact.
fern, you are over 50. Your generation is dying out. Pro-lifers will outbreed you. Our kids will be mostly pro-life. Older people grow more conservative. It’s demographics.
Abortion is on its way out. Fetal rights is on its way in. It might take a while, but it’s an inevitability. Besides, abortions is based on lies. Ideas based on lies have a habit of imploding under the weight of their own deception. Like communism.
My concept of civilization and my idea of culture differs greatly from that of the Canadian Liberal leadership.
I see abortion as a most brutal procedure.
And it is quite beyond me how anyone, in their right mind of course, would force abortions on developing countries when there is not yet general pre-hatal, natal and post natal care available.
But common sense is never palatable to ideologues?
absolutely not in my name.
Several other polls over the past 15 years have shown a decided majority of Canadians do not support abortion at any stage for any reason. It is interesting that the article cited by Fern acknowledges that most Canadians consider abortion immoral. The format of the question and response of the ekos poll leaves wide room for error among respondants having to offer a number on a scale rather than a straight and clear answer to an equally clear question. The US-directed question was clear and unequivocal; a similar questiton would elicit a far more meaningful response than the Canadian-directed question – and would more accurately reflect the position of the majority of Canadians.
You know, you people would have more credibility if you knew how to throw a linky in.
SUZANNE, you are lying.
From the polls page at Signal Hill, aka BC Pro-Life. That oughta be acceptable to you.
http://www.thesignalhill.com/polls.html
More Canadians (49%) think abortion should be funded by taxes, than don’t (47%). A slim lead, yes. And the closest you fetus fetishists ever get to an answer you like. But still, FAIL.
@Mary: Americans are significantly different from Canadians on abortion and religion in general. StatsCan (I know, I know, another leftwing biased group) has figures showing that the fastest growing ‘religious’ group in Canada is no religion. I’d get a link, but it’s late and nobody here would bother to read it anyway.
not in my name! One day civilization will look at the atrocity of abortion in the same way it sees slavery today: being barbaric.
Not in our name…
And how about this: the more educated people are, the more likely they are to support abortion.
From SUZANNE’s blogroll: http://jivinjehoshaphat.blogspot.com/2010/04/life-links-43010.html
Canadians are definitely becoming more educated. Therefore, more pro-choice.
And I have to say — I love the ‘we’re out-breeding you’ argument. Perhaps, but to conclude that your children will be successfully indoctrinated and remain that way is something of a stretch, doncha think?
Particularly in view of the education factor.
Not in my name either!
Now, because of the free speech destroying Access to Abortion Services Act of BC we also have to pay for 6 or 8 police officers sent to arrest two peaceful and non-violent grandparents for the new crime of passing out copies of that BC bubble zone legislation to inform the public they can be arrested in the same bubble zone they are standing in if they say the verboten “A” word. Then after spending a day in the vancouver Police lock-up, I find out the Crown, upon my conviction, is asking that you pay again to keep me in jail for 3-4 months.
While they are loading us two into a paddy wagon (ultimately for the crime of loving our innocent and helpless pre-born neighbours as ourselves) there are drug deals and who know what other crimes going on down the street.
Abortion has started us down the road to tyranny in Canada!
Not in our name either: my husband and I plus our four kids (between l7 and 23). It says a lot about a country that jails its grandmothers for standing in front of an abortion clinic but can’t get criminals off the streets. I guess we know where the priorities are.
Fern,
I am quite sure that if Canadians were given all Canadian abortion facts, (for example, the number of abortions done in the 3rd trimester, the number of abortions done for gender selection, etc), the statistics on how many support abortions and government funding of them would show a quite different story than the one you are telling.
And if women were shown compassion instead of judgement when dealing with an unwanted pregnancy, and given support when making a decision about how to deal with that pregnancy, abortion numbers would decrease. If pregnant moms could see the joy that their unborn child could bring to a childless couple, and could be shown examples of how a very-much-wanted child can come from an unwanted pregnancy, we would have fewer of those childless couples waiting years to adopt.
I know a bit of what I speak- as a foster parent I have seen 6 newborns placed in the arms of loving adoptive parents in the last 2 years. Each birth mom’s story was different, and each of them difficult, but they have found some joy and happiness in giving the gift of life to their babes and the forever families.
It’s not about taking away a woman’s right to choose- it’s about making sure she has all of the facts so she can make an truly informed decision.
fern,
whether those indoctrinated by the public school system will remain so or not is more to the point.
Mine aren’t. They have benefited from an education that developed the ability to reason (not public), and to contrast their own experience of life with the propaganda spouted by the ‘culture of death’. They choose to honour the gift of life. Somehow, I don’t think that’s going to change.
Others, awakened from their somnolence by the cheerful and loving example of young people like mine, question the crud they’ve been spoon fed, and opt to believe in life.
Afterall, how much benefit is it to a young person to believe in death? Really? Its a losers creed.
Of course not! Not in my name.
@Deb G.: The facts are out there. Very few — like under 1% — of all abortions are done in the third trimester and those overwhelmingly for fatal fetal defects or severe health risk to women. These horrible situations occur to women who very much wanted a healthy child or to live to raise the child. When people demonize ‘late-term abortions’ and the women who have them, they are revictimizing families who have already been through terrible grief.
Come visit my blog. It is full of facts. It is also full of compassion for all sorts of awful situations people find themselves in. It is full of life, joy, and acceptance. Unlike many judgemental anti-choice blogs.
This blog is good. The bloggers are smarter than your average pro-lifers. The commenters are as blinkered as usual, however. Use this platform to explore what other people think.
Not in my name ever!
fern
You are quick to scream LIAR at any chance when a person disagrees with you.Anybody who reads you on a regular and an open mind knows that. But hey, I’m not going stop you from undermining your own credibility.
According to an Angus Reid Poll, 44% of Canadians believe that abortions should only be paid for in cases of medical emergency. And 4% say “never”. Add both of them together, that ads up to 48%.
http://www.angus-reid.com/uppdf/2008.06.20_Abortion.pdf
Look, it’s math. Feminists do not reproduce the way so-cons do. Even if only 55% of pro-life children grow up to be pro-life, and this repeats itself generation after generation, we will catch up. People who support abortion don’t have as many kids as people who oppose abortion.
Fetal rights is the human rights struggle of the 21st century. Deal with it. Your generation is on its way out.
Well, SUZANNE, I may not be a math genius, but 48% is not a majority. To say that a majority of Canadians do not accept tax-funded abortions is a LIE.
Secularism is on the rise. Which is why the Catholic Church is in paroxysms. The human race is growing up and rejecting sky fairies. Your type is dying out. I’d spit back ‘you deal with it’ but clearly you are unable to. Denial is what you fetus fetishists are really really good at.
Not in my name!
Not in my name either.
To “fern hill”; the more educated I become, the more pro-life I become. Abortion is no different than infanticide. To say it is is to deny the truth. I am currently in my 27th week of pregnancy and it’s completely legal for me to abort despite the fact that my child has a viable chance at life should s/he be delivered today.
If this baby should turn out to have Downs Syndrome (I’ve refused testing) s/he will be as welcome in our family as my other children. Being “differently abled” does not diminish a person’s right to exist. My oldest child is autistic. I wouldn’t trade him for anything and have become more educated about what’s important in life by being his mom. While the lessons he has taught me have been hard, they have made me a richer person and I’m glad I didn’t deny myself the education.
Abortion is NOT a religious issue. Google “pro-life atheist” and you’ll discover that one doesn’t have to be religious to know the truth about abortion. You’ll also be very aware that many who call themselves Christian see nothing wrong with abortion.
I do not have the right to murder an adult or any or my children, nor should I. It doesn’t matter if they are inconvenient to me or not. Why does this change because my child is at an early stage of development? The logical answer is that it should not.
Women deserve better than abortion. We deserve men who will father their offspring. We deserve to be able to earn a living while raising our children. We deserve to be able to finish our education while raising our children. We deserve not to be objectified and we deserve to have our pro-creative abilities, our ability to become a mother, honoured. People like to think that sex doesn’t lead to parenthood anymore for some reason.
I will never support abortion just as I will never support a woman’s right to kill her child. Susan Smith was wrong. So was Andrea Yates. So is any bastard who impregnates a woman through forced sex, particularly a girl of 10, or their own daughter. But the baby that results is innocent and doesn’t deserve to die because of such a “man’s” actions. And the women and girls who are thus impregnated should not be further victimized by knowing that they had to kill their child.
Women deserve to know the truth about abortion. They deserve to know that their child can feel pain as early as 8 weeks gestation. They deserve to know that a baby can survive an abortion attempt. They deserve to know that there are risks of future health problems with even a “safe” abortion procedure. They deserve to know that they will be respected and loved even if they find themselves unexpectedly pregnant.
And I deserve more respect than being referred to as someone with a “fetus fetish”. I am a mother of five, well educated, and will not be stereotyped with such a derogatory label.
So, I’ll say again, Morgentaler and other “pro-choice” Canadians do not speak for me. And neither does “fern hill”.
You are absolutely right Susan. As a pro-life atheist I say: not in my name!
Not in my name.
fern, don’t play language games with me. *Of those who expressed an opinion* a majority said they don’t want abortion funded by taxes. Onedefinition of “majority” is “the greater quantity or share ” Also “the group or political party having the greater number of votes (as in a legislature”.
http://www.merriam-webster.com/netdict/majority
I correctly used the English language, but it seems you have to play games to peg anyone who disagrees with you as a LIAR.
But hey, keep undermining your credibility. We all see what you’re doing.
Secularism is on the rise.
It’s a numbers game. It will only be on the rise for so long. Religious conservatives outbreed secular people. It’s only a question of time.
The human race is growing up and rejecting sky fairies. Your type is dying out. I’d spit back ‘you deal with it’ but clearly you are unable to. Denial is what you fetus fetishists are really really good at.
The people who reject so-called “sky fairies” don’t breed enough. Educated people don’t breed enough. It’s numbers fern. Eventually religious people will have more say through sheer numbers. How do you suppose that abortion is an issue now when it wasn’t ten years ago?
Sorry fern. You had no kids to pass on your wisdom. You and your feminist cohort will reap the consequences of your decisions to refuse life.
In thirty years, you’ll be dead or close to it– with no descendants. In thirty years, if all goes well, I’ll be a grandma. I’ll be passing on my values to my grand kids. Multiply that by millions. It’s only a matter of time. Secularism is self-destructive. It can’t sustain itself on many levels. For proof, look to Russia. Look at the Czech Republic. These are countries whose population has decreased. Then look at places like the US and France. Their population stability is due to religious people having more kids than secularists. Religious conservatives have more kids. Eventually they will be more influential, especially now that they are fighting a culture war.
Deal with it. We’re not going away. We have kids and inculcate them with pro-life values, as we show them ultrasounds that we took of them.
Not in my name!
NOT IN MY NAME!!!!
Not in my name, now or ever!
Let us call a spade a spade! Abortion is a word easy to use, instead of what it really is–Killing, yes, killing an alive child. If one is pregnant one is with child. Right? So, because we are the educated ones and kill our pre-born children at will, we want for others to do so also. We are, of course, superior. Right? So, we can force others to buy our ideology that killing so-called “unwanted children” is, well—what is it? Right? Moral? Healthy for the child and mother and father? Healthy for the family? (What family?) By all means, all aspects of maternal help is good, sensible, intelligent, the only way to go, it helps the child and the family. That is a no-brainer. Maternal help in our country and in the ones who are without, is the least we, as a rich country and people with a heart (if we have a heart) can do for those who have less. But, to counsel them to kill their offsprings, well? That says everything about us! And too, we don’t want to, but we have to pay for that thing called choice abortions ! A grade fiver would know better. If it is a matter of that ‘sacred’ choice, then at least, let it be a choice that is paid by the one who chooses. That is a no-brainer as well. On my dead body, not in my name “So help me God”
Not in my name, too. So is, I believe 100% of my friends. We should all be thankful that we are not aborted. We are born and taken care of until we become a productive member of the society. I was born and alive to tell my happy life story. My parents were immigrants and the condition was poor and yet they took the ‘trouble’ to do the right thing. I know for a fact that they were VERY happy that I was their son, the best son that anyone can wish for. Keep the babies coming. Do not mess with babies. They can make us proud.
“It wasn’t done in my name. And frankly, I don’t love the blood on my hands.” Well said! I resent pro-abortion feminists speaking on behalf of all women and assumng that they have the right to do so!
Not in my name!
“Not in my name, either”
DEFINITELY not in my name!
Fern.
I’m glad you arer debating your views here. We don’t agree on this subject but it needs to be debated in Canada.
Pro-choice is on it’s way out also because of all the abortion candidates that weren’t killed. So the subject becomes personal. I accepted to continue my pregnancy despite very difficult circonstances. I still get tears thinking how close I came to ending his life. My surprise pregnancy made me aware how much of a lie it is to be pro-choice.
Where is choice if you feel there is NO other choice? I received hope that things were going to work out by people who stood by me. And they did. That is what women with surprise pregnancies need.
My son, a bright and kind trilingual little 5 year old boy will know how close his life came to be ended. What do you think will be his opinion regarding abortion?
There are many stories like this Fern. You will probably see the change and the rejection of the pro-choice lies when you retire in a few years. I hope you will come to see the destruction that abortion brings to women’s lives.
I do wonder what were the stats of pro-life and pro-choice Americans 10 or 15 years ago. Can someone help find them?
No, not in my name either!