Keeping good statistics is not a pro-life/pro-choice thing. I’m confident the majority of Canadians would be pleased if the number of abortions declined, but as it stands, we really have no sweet clue:
Government statistics on abortion for 2007 and 2008 released on Tuesday appear to indicate there were only 44,416 abortions in 2008, down from the reported 91,377 abortions in 2006. However, a closer look reveals that this total leaves out abortions committed at private facilities. These are left as “unknown” because facilities in six out of the 13 provinces/territories failed to report.
What is the point of keeping abortion-related statistics if they are going to be this shoddy?








It seems like the private abortion clinics are getting rather cocky. It’s almost like they are pushing the government as hard as they can to see what they can get away with. Well, pride goes before a fall, I guess. I don’t know as it is in their best interest to keep pushing the envelope. Seems to me that it is perfectly reasonable for us to ask them to furnish their statistics in exchange for funding the abortions they perform.
Abortion has been tolerated in this country because most folks like to keep things quiet and polite, and the abortion debate is an ugly one. Ergo, we keep the status quo because we don’t want the gloves to come off in the public arena. But people have a limit to what they will put up with. I think the pro-choice crowd pushed the envelope a little too far when they granted Morgentaler the Order of Canada. And now the tide is turning.
In the meantime, I think we have to ask the question: just why are they afraid to publish their statistics?