Abortion In Canada

Julie Culshaw
(via e-mail)

Most of you know that abortion in Canada is legal in all provinces throughout all nine months of pregnancy. This means that no one who wants to have an abortion will ever be refused. In fact, Canada is the only country in the western world that has absolutely no law on abortion at all. It is not that abortion is legal in Canada, the truth is that there is no law about abortion at all. Therefore we have absolutely no restrictions on abortion. Most countries have at least some restrictions on abortion, but in Canada - NONE.

Eleven days ago, Michael Ignatieff challenged Prime Minister Harper on his proposal for the upcoming G8 summit to be held here in Canada. Harper wishes to address the problem of maternal health and infant mortality in the third world by granting funds to improve the conditions for pregnant women. He wants to help provide poor countries with good nursing care, with nutritional information, with birthing helps, with care for newborns, all with the intention of reducing maternal and infant mortality.

I know personally that this is a huge problem. Our first child was born in Malawi 36 years ago. That night, five other women were giving birth in the hospital in Mzuzu, Malawi. My husband said to me that night, "you know our daughter will probably be the only child alive out of these six babies in five years time."

Malaria, measles, meningitis, infections, inadequate nutrition, lack of innoculations, lack of clean water, lack of the basics that we take for granted, would bring about the early deaths of all five of those children. If any of them survived those five years, they would have beaten the odds.

So when Harper made that statement about helping the third world, it rang true to me. And when Ignatieff made the response that Harper's aid should include abortion and contraception, I also knew that he was speaking a lie.

Malawi does not want the importation of abortion; those Africans treasure life precisely because they know how precarious it is. To offer them abortion is the very opposite of what they know to be valuable; they love children; they do not need some western ideology shoved upon them. They need what we take for granted: basic medical care, basic clean food and water, and the education to show them how to do this for themselves in a hemisphere that is often hostile to life.

If you are the slightest bit interested in this issue, I would encourage you to write to Michael Ignatieff and let him know that you don't want abortion and contraception included in this health package that Harper is proposing. And for goodness sake, please write to Prime Minister Stephen Harper and thank him and encourage him for taking the brave stand that he has.

It really does make a difference if we speak to our politicians. I read today that one MP said that, in all his mail, the only letters he gets on the topic of pro-life amount to only two per year. Hundreds of letters on other topics, but only 2 on pro-life issues. Let us speak up, our voices need to be heard.

You can email Michael Ignatieff at
Liberal Party of Canada
81 Metcalfe Street, Suite 400
Ottawa, Ontario
K1P 6M8
Phone : (613) 237-0740
Fax : (613) 235-7208
email : info@liberal.ca

and Stephen Harper at
Office of the Prime Minister
80 Wellington Street
Ottawa
K1A 0A2

Fax: 613-941-6900
by email at pm@pm.gc.ca

For those who have been dismayed by the seeming lack of stand on pro-life issues by this Conservative parliament, this is our chance to thank them for taking this stand. Because this statement about aid to the third world really is a pro-life stand. We need to give Mr. Harper the support that he needs to stay strong in the face of those who think that abortion is a "done deal" and that we should export it to the rest of the world.

God bless you, and please remember to pray during the next 40 Days for an end to abortion in our country. I believe that the fact that abortion is even being discussed publicly (where it has been silent for so long) is the result of prayers. The issue is being uncovered, because it has not gone away, and it will not go away until there is justice for all our brothers and sisters, including those in the womb.


email: julie culshaw@ns.sympatico.ca
40 Days For Life Halifax
Concerned For Life