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Breaking the law

October 20, 2008 by Andrea Mrozek 1 Comment

David Little hasn’t paid income tax since 1999 because he doesn’t want his money, even in part, going to pay for abortions. This is, of course, breaking the law.

Does this mean he’ll get an Order of Canada in a couple of decades?

(Maybe. But not before he goes to jail, or pays a fine, or whatever the outcome will be.)

Filed Under: All Posts Tagged With: David Little, Order of Canada

Cardinal Turcotte sends back his medal

September 11, 2008 by Brigitte Pellerin 3 Comments

To protest the Morgentaler award.

Turcotte explained his decision in a written statement released Thursday.

“I had accepted this honour on behalf of all those who, because of their faith in Jesus Christ, work in the social domain to serve the most disadvantaged of our society,” he wrote.

“I must admit that I had hoped that, in light of the large number of protests, the Consultative Council for the Order of Canada would revise its decision.

“Because it has not done so up to now and because silence on my part might be misinterpreted, I feel obliged in conscience to reaffirm my convictions regarding the respect for human life, from conception to death.

“We are not the masters of human life; it rests in the hands of God,” he said.

___________________________

Andrea adds: My first thought was something along the lines of “What took you so long?” But note he was hopeful that Morgentaler’s Order would be revoked, justice restored, and he could keep his. Well, good on the Cardinal, I say. Still hoping for others to do the same.

___________________________

Tanya says: There’s the expression, “Better late than never.” Then there’s the saying, “If you are hoping for change, be the change.” I still stand by the opinion that Cardinal Turcotte should have been among the first to send his medal back.

Filed Under: All Posts Tagged With: Cardinal Turcotte, Henry Morgentaler, Order of Canada

Honours

September 8, 2008 by Andrea Mrozek 1 Comment

An ad in today’s Hill Times asks for a review of how the Order of Canada Advisory Council works. Wouldn’t we all like to know.

As an aside, just found out two of my favourite historians are members: Michael Bliss and Michael Marrus. (Yes indeed, I have “favourite historians” and a growing collection of signed books. Imagine how lucky a girl is when she has signed copies of books by Martin Gilbert and Norman Davies. But I digress.)  

Here’s the problem–Bliss and Marrus deserve real honour. Michael Bliss never taught me, Professor Marrus did, and his was easily one of the best classes I ever took in five years at UofT. Thing is, he was a stickler for using the right words…

Could he possibly think that Morgentaler getting this award for “health care” is accurate? That supporting “a woman’s right to choose” for all its “truthiness,” makes any sense at all?

Filed Under: All Posts Tagged With: Henry Morgentaler and Order of Canada, Hill Times, Michael Marrus, Morgentaler, Order of Canada, truthiness

Confidentiality or secrecy?

July 30, 2008 by Tanya Zaleski Leave a Comment

I’ve been writing the Governor General’s office pretty religiously regarding Morgentaler’s Order of Canada. I received a whole file of identical responses from the GG’s office just recently. I got as many emails as I had sent to info@gg.ca. The response went:

In order to preserve the confidentiality and integrity of the Canadian Honours System, the Chancellery of Honours does not comment on any decision made by the Advisory Council for the Order of Canada, an independent council chaired by the Chief Justice of Canada. This practice applies to all nominations to the Canadian Honours System. The Advisory Council reviews all nominations and transmits its decisions to the governor general. Please rest assured that your comments will be shared with the Advisory Council.

I’ve thanked the Chancellery of Honours for their offer to share my comments with the Advisory Council. I’ve nonetheless expressed my desire to communicate my opinion to them directly, not via a third party. I’m therefore waiting for on them to send me the appropriate contact information. Would anyone like to hold their breath with me?

Filed Under: All Posts Tagged With: Morgentaler, Order of Canada

If Morgentaler isn’t sure, why are you?

July 23, 2008 by Andrea Mrozek Leave a Comment

Just a question. Here’s the exchange, quoted from this article:

‘I’m like a newborn baby,’ Dr. Henry Morgentaler told the CBC’s Evan Solomon about surviving a recent stroke and heart operation. ‘I enjoy being alive.’ The irony wasn’t lost on Solomon, who then asked the Canadian abortion doctor ‘how does a guy who’s seen so much death (in Auschwitz and Dachau, where he was imprisoned as a youngster) fight for a cause which many people believe is a form of killing?’

‘I won’t deny there’s an inconsistency,’ Morgentaler answered. ‘Maybe I’ve deluded myself.’

Maybe?

____________________________

Important update: This from John Jalsevac writing in from Lifesite-

Unfortunately the author of the Starphoenix piece where you got this from rather irresponsibly pulled the quotation from Morgentaler in this interview WAY out of context. When Morgentaler admitted that there may have been an “inconsistency” and that he may have “deluded himself”, he wasn’t speaking about abortion at all. By that point in the interview, which comes some 15 minutes or so after Solomon asks this question about the holocaust and Morgentaler’s choice for a cause, they are talking about Morgentaler’s treatment of women. Morgentaler admits that his philandering ways may not be consistent with the love and concern he professes for the female sex on the whole. He’s not expressing doubts about abortion.

Filed Under: All Posts Tagged With: CBC, Evan Solomon, killing, Morgentaler, Order of Canada

What if Henry Morgentaler looked like this?

July 22, 2008 by Brigitte Pellerin 3 Comments

Perhaps the silliest argument in favour of the old abortionist: That if only we weren’t so anti-Semitic and bent on detesting ugly people, there wouldn’t be such an uproar over his induction into the Order of Canada.

Many years ago, Montreal Gazette cartoonist Terry Mosher, aka Aislin, published a cartoon that pictured Henry Morgentaler beside a handsome, waspish doctor with an Anglo-Saxon name and posited the question: Do you think if Henry Morgentaler looked like this, there would be this fuss?

We may never know how the debate on abortion might have unfolded if its leading proponent looked like George Clooney. Aislin, also named to the Order in 2003, made his point brilliantly, tacitly alluding to an unfortunate thread of anti-Semitism that also circulates about Morgentaler and his practice.

I’m sure there are pro-lifers who harbour anti-Semitic feelings. After all, there are imbeciles everywhere – including among journalists and politicians and (why not?) pro-choicers. But really, dude, you’re pushing it. On the other charge, that of finding Henry Morgentaler less visually pleasant to look at than certain famous surfing actors I could name, well, gosh, I plead guilty. I didn’t think that was the reason I opposed abortion, but hey.

Filed Under: All Posts Tagged With: anti-semitism, Henry Morgentaler, Order of Canada

Not so fast, Rabbi

July 17, 2008 by Rebecca Walberg Leave a Comment

A Saskatchewan rabbi criticizes a Catholic bishop who is protesting Morgentaler’s Order of Canada medal.  Here is the full text of the news article:

Saskatoon’s Roman Catholic bishop is calling on followers to protest the awarding of the Order of Canada to abortion-rights crusader Dr. Henry Morgentaler earlier this month. However, Bishop Albert LeGatt’s initiative is being criticized by a rabbi who says Dr. Morgentaler has done more for women’s rights than the Catholic Church. Saskatoon Rabbi emeritus Roger Pavey of the liberal congregation Agudas Israel said Bishop LeGatt was misguided, adding that even Orthodox Judaism considered abortion acceptable in some cases.

First, it is facile and offensive to suggest that Morgentaler has done more for women’s rights than the Catholic Church.  It reflects naked hostility to Catholicism that is unbecoming in a senior clergyman, profound bias, or ignorance of recent history, or most likely some blend of the three.  I’ll simply point out that given what we know about abortion and depression, breast cancer, and problems with subsequent pregnancies, Morgentaler has caused direct harm to many women quite apart from the actual damage women sustain when choosing to terminate a pregnancy.  The Catholic Church, like all massive and long-lived institutions, is imperfect, but in recognizing the sanctity of motherhood and encouraging women and men to form lifelong marriages, among others, it has certainly added to the net happiness of women in the world.

Next point: Rabbi Pavey points out that “even Orthodox Judaism” permits abortion in some circumstances.  This is absolutely true.  Rabbi Pavey assuredly knows, though, that those circumstances are very narrow, and in fact bear no resemblance to the circumstances in which Morgentaler has performed abortions.  Jewish law permits (and in some cases requires) abortion if continuing a pregnancy would kill the mother.  Note, please, that this is a vanishingly rare situation in 21st century Canada.  It is also noteworthy that there is no “mental health” exemption, which has been used to such mischief in some jurisdictions; since depression during and after pregnancy are largely treatable, the vast majority of Jewish legal authorities do not consider mental distress at an unwanted pregnancy to be a reason to abort. 

There are also abundant sources indicating that, as a developing life, a fetus has great value and sanctity – but not quite as much as an existing life, so that when there is a mortal conflict between the life of the fetus and the life of the mother, we must choose the mother.  By the time either the head or the majority of the body has emerged from the womb, though, the baby has equal status as the mother, and it is forbidden to choose between them – no partial birth abortions permitted, in other words.  Also significant is that the conflict between the life of the fetus and an existing life applies only to the mother, ie the life that would be directly threatened if the pregnancy continued; destroying a fetus to save a third life, or many other lives, is also forbidden.

Here we get to the real intellectual dishonesty of Rabbi Pavey’s words.  Pavey is the Rabbi Emeritus of a Conservative congregation in Saskatoon.  Conservative Judaism, like Orthodox Judaism, believes in the binding and eternal nature of the covenant between God and the Jews.  Unlike Orthodox Judaism, which believes (to reduce a complicated issue to one phrase) that Jewish law is fixed, and can be applied to new situations but must not be adapted, Conservative Judaism believes that the component of the law that is subject to human interpretation can and must evolve as the understanding, wisdom and knowledge of humans evolve.  Nonetheless, Conservative Judaism recognizes that not all abortions are permitted by Jewish law.  The official position of Conservative Judaism on the politics of abortion is to oppose any law that might prevent abortions in the (extremely narrow set of) circumstances in which it is permitted by Jewish law.

Abortion to save the life of the mother has been permitted in Canada throughout Morgentaler’s career.  The slightly more lax circumstances in which Conservative Jewish law finds abortion acceptable (abortion to prevent serious injury to the mother, or severe mental anguish) have also been accommodated in practice in Canada throughout Morgentaler’s career.  Abortions that are permitted within Jewish law, in other words, already were permitted within Canadian law, and this has nothing to do with Morgentaler.  On the contrary, the very essence of Morgentaler was to shatter this status quo in favour of abortion at any time, for any woman, for any reason, and ideally at the taxpayer’s expense.  And he was most successful.

To discard a human life in a cavalier manner is profoundly contrary to the Jewish tradition, law and ethos.  To oppose laws that restrict abortion on the grounds that such laws might infringe upon the (incredibly rare) situations in which Jewish law permits abortion – the official position of Conservative Judaism – strikes me as extreme, unnuanced, but logically coherent.  To celebrate a man who devoted his life to making life disposable – the most sacred earthly thing in Judaism, such that we are permitted to break almost any other law in order to save a life – is reprehensible, and deeply unJewish.

Rabbi Pavey undoubtedly knows the position of his own movement on abortion.  He almost certainly knows that Orthodox Judaism (and until this century all of Judaism) sees abortion as a last resort, a tragic measure to be taken only to save the life of the mother.  I don’t know what he is trying to gain by this statement, but he has managed to fit contempt for women, Jewish law and tradition, both Orthodox and Conservative, and Catholicism, all into a couple of sentences.  There are better ways he could be using his time – teaching Jews and non-Jews alike that our religion holds all life to be sacred, even a developing life in the womb. How about that?

Filed Under: All Posts Tagged With: Judaism and abortion, liberal Judaism, Morgentaler, Order of Canada, orthodox Judaism, Rabbi emeritus Roger Pavey, Roger Pavey and Morgentaler, Saskatoon

About the strategy

July 13, 2008 by Brigitte Pellerin Leave a Comment

About officials and others reportedly boasting about their PR strategy, and about the fact that, as far as I can tell, most of the folks who wrote or phoned or emailed have been ignored…

I’m sorry: What else were you expecting? Protests and letters and phone calls and columns and what have you will not make one bit of difference – at least not officially. The people who are convinced Henry Morgentaler deserves the Order of Canada and who are in a position to make it happen already know what you think. And they don’t care. If anything, the sight of protests and the accumulation of letters is somewhat pleasant to them – gives them the impression they are being courageous. (I know. It is silly.)

So then… what? Same as what we were doing before this whole business came up. For my part, this means writing and talking and discussing the issue, hoping to convince women at least to think twice before having an abortion. Think about what abortion is, what it does to your body (to say nothing of what it does to that other body inside yours) and please avoid it – both for your sake and that of the little innocent being trapped inside you through no fault of his or her own. Not getting pregnant in the first place helps a lot. Understanding your body, how it works and what is likely to happen when you keep having unprotected sex helps keep Plan A on track. It’s not rocket science.

I am not discouraged – by the boasts, or opinion polls, or anything else. To me, doing anything that might help reduce the number of casual abortions is what matters. If I manage to convince one young woman that avoiding abortion is at least as important as making sure she’s ready to have kids before getting pregnant, it will have been worth it.

p.s. well, OK, some poll results are discouranging…

Filed Under: All Posts Tagged With: Henry Morgentaler, Order of Canada

“Boasting” about their PR strategy

July 11, 2008 by Andrea Mrozek Leave a Comment

I hear the governor general’s office is “boasting about their successful media strategy” on this Morgentaler/Order of Canada award business.  

Boasting about what? Successfully ignoring every Canadian who has written in? I haven’t received a response to my concerns, have you?

 

Filed Under: All Posts Tagged With: Governor General, Morgentaler, Order of Canada

Making a return

July 10, 2008 by Andrea Mrozek Leave a Comment

Congratulations to Gilbert Finn, former lieutenant-governor of New Brunswick, who will no longer be a member of the Order of Canada, should Morgentaler become one:

Finn, a renowned Acadian businessman and former president of the Université de Moncton, said he sent a message last week to Prime Minister Stephen Harper and Governor-General Michaëlle Jean informing them of his decision.

His wife was quoted on his behalf in the National Post saying simply, “He’s not in favour of abortion.” Few words, conveys the point. Like it.

Filed Under: All Posts Tagged With: Gilbert Finn, Morgentaler, Order of Canada

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