Posted on 08/16/2012 1:46:29 PM PDT by NYer
OTTAWA, 16 August, 2012 (LifeSiteNews.com) The largest association of doctors in Canada, in an attempt to stonewall a looming abortion debate from being unleashed, voted yesterday to support the wording of the countrys Criminal Code which states that a baby becomes a human being only after being born.
Pro-life doctors and leaders have condemned the move as shameful, unethical, and defying parody.
Delegates to the Canadian Medical Associations annual general council voted on the motion so as to prevent what they called a “backdoor” attempt to reopen the abortion debate. They voted to pass, says a CMA report on the meeting, a resolution supporting the current wording of the Criminal Code which states that a child becomes a human being within the meaning of this Act when it has completely proceeded, in a living state, from the body of its mother
Canadian Physicians for Life condemned the CMAs move, saying that every Canadian doctor knows that the unborn child is a live human being.
Dr. Will Johnston, president of Canadian Physicians for Life in a statement emailed to LifeSiteNews pointed out the hypocrisy of the Canadian Medical Association which has a long-established policy of supporting the killing of human life through abortion.
“CMA delegates worry about children not exercizing enough or not wearing bicycle helmets, while over one hundred thousand children go missing from our playgrounds every year because they were killed by abortion.
The mismatch between this problem and yesterdays conversation from the CMA annual general meeting defies parody, he said.
Dr. John Shea, MD FRCP(C), told LifeSiteNews from his home in Toronto that the delegates to the CMA meeting should be ashamed of themselves for failing to recognize when human life begins.
The biological fact is what counts here, which is when the ovum and the sperm unite, a single-celled human organism is formed. Period. This organism is a human being, a person at the single-cell stage. From that point in time he or she has rights. Anybody who denies that fact is denying biological reality; they are lying.
Conservative Member of Parliament Steve Woodworth filed a motion in the House of Commons last February to establish a special committee to consider when human life begins. He called for Parliament to re-examine section 223 of the Code, a 400-year-old provision inherited from British common law, that stipulates a child only becomes a human being when it has completely proceeded, in a living state, from the body of its mother.
Section 223 is, purely and simply, a law that says some human beings are not human beings, said Woodworth at that time.
Dr. Johnston called Section 223 of the code our professions biggest shame and biggest headache. It is a disastrous public policy which does far more harm than good.
Pro-life groups across the country rejoiced in Woodworths motion, hoping that it might provide a foundation to offer protection to unborn children in the womb.
Prime Minister Stephen Harper has pledged to vote against the motion when it comes up, calling it unfortunate that the motion was deemed votable by an all-party committee of the House. Woodworths motion has been postponed till the fall.
Jim Hughes, president of Campaign Life Coalition, told LifeSiteNews that CMAs motion just shows the sorry state of the leaders of the CMA who have drifted so far from the oath of Hippocrates.
The Hippocratic Oath, originating in 5th century BC, was until recently sworn by those who practiced the healing arts so that they would do so ethically and honestly. At one point in the oath, doctors swear that they will not give a woman medicaments to cause an abortion.
And for a few years between 13 and 17 or so.
Was immediately my thought, too. My youngest was born at 28 weeks and less than two pounds. He was completely dependent upon his incubator to keep him alive. What is the difference between the artificial and natural incubators?
I like your out-of-the-box thinking. This argument might resonate with some people that don't even value the blood of their own kind.
Clingon.
“... we haven’t even held her yet”.
You held her in your heart... congratulations!
As a former Canukistani, this is what they taught us in school..
Americans are idiots, we are different than Americans, and abortion is acceptable.
If babies are not human until after birth, then liberals are not human either, even after birth.
“The biological fact is what counts here, which is when the ovum and the sperm unite, a single-celled human organism is formed. Period. This organism is a human being, a person at the single-cell stage. From that point in time he or she has rights. Anybody who denies that fact is denying biological reality; they are lying.
This is scientifically the only possible, logical and consistent description possible. The debate needs to focus on the value of human life. If we can terminate a fetus for being “inconvenient”, why not a troublesome child or unproductive elder? That said, the uniquely close relationship between mother and child must consider the ethics of a situation where the mother will die if she continues her pregnancy or where the child will not survive regardless of treatment. Personally, I would allow the mother her decision but would permit an abortion. Such situations are quite rare.
When do we cease being human?
Don’t worry about it. We’ll let you know.
The Canuck Medical Ass’n
No one who was ever pregnant would think this. When I was with child, (oh, here goes Sportutegirl on one of her tangents again) I would bawl my eyes out at Savage Garden on the radio, “I knew I loved you before I met you”. I would sing it nonstop to my baby. She probably learned the words in utero.
The “Western” left is a product of prosperity, freedom and security.
They take it all for granted and have a twisted world view.
God Almighty : Canadian Medical Association condemned to hell.
I usually have these arguments with my sis, the social worker.
She wouldn't dare hit me.
At least, she hasn't yet...
We may not be human in your world but at least we did not elect an asshat like Obama to run our country like you geniuses did. By the way who is really responsible for Roe vs Wade...some dumb Canuck I suppose.
You have begun to look into the future. Here we have human life proclaimed by committee...not science...not theological,....not philosophical. If they had to arrive at this decision by science they would fail. Likewise if they tried to arive at dehumanization by theology, or philosophy they would fail. But they define the parameters and they are guided by physicalism and metaphysical naturalism. It is a very tiny step for that same committtee to remove the status of human life from teenagers, 20 year olds, 30 year olds, etc. Your worthiness will be determined by a self affirming committee who find the voiceless of no more worth than a dog. In fact those same committeemen would kill a human before killing a dog. The next thing they will proclaim is a more specific list of critera of 'values' which configure to define hamanness. This is eugenics-in-evolution. We have seen it before. People need to learn a little about how to argue for their very lives. Hell awaits their decisions.
If it’s not human, then we should not charge people for two homicides for killing a pregnant woman either. There is no way to reconcile a pro-abortion position with reality and any form of morality without throwing logical consistency out the window. It is always an emotional choice to make that decision, and then they try to reverse engineer a justification for their position through rationalizations instead of reason.
That’s a great example of an argument through ridicule.
“So, since you deny that the ‘fetus’ is a human, are you trying to tell me that, if left alone, you believe it just MIGHT become something else, say, a fruit bat?”
But they forget that for many people in society, meat is murder. And the unborn child is at least meat, so isnt that murder? Well, no, they would argue, because we dont eat the products of human conception and, besides, it wasnt born yet. But dont animal rights people claim that killing the unborn calf for food (the true veal) is tantamount to murder and animal rights activists call it murder even though they dont want to eat it? So if its a moral outrage to kill an unborn calf as a food choice its not a moral outrage to kill an unborn human as a reproductive choice? This interface between reproductive rights and food rights is something that is not extensively discussed, probably because doing so would result in the exact opposite of what is desired: a way of redefining and reinterpreting the problem into something tolerable.
- Its not finished yet, so just as a vehicle on the assembly line isnt really a car until it can actually be driven and used as a car, so the developing products of conception arent yet a human person.
- During fetal development the products of conception are recapitulating the evolutionary history from single-celled organism, through fish, and so forth, and so isnt yet a person any more than a tadpole is a person or a human.
- Its not human because its totally dependent on the mother in the womb and is unviable.
- Its not human because it doesnt even look human in the early stages.
- Its not yet human because it doesnt have the ability to think and reason and contribute to society (though, if its female, killing it is denying it its future constitutionally protected right to choose).
- Its not a human because it hasnt breathed and its when it breathes that the soul enters the body and it becomes a human being, so something without a soul isnt human.
- Its just tissue, you know, meat, and, if you kill it, it isnt murder.
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