In Canada, Pro-Lifers on the Brink

Catholic World Report ^ | 5/21/14 | Michael Coren

[marshmallow]

Catholic Church’s leaders in Canada have for too long appeared to prefer establishment acceptance to standing firm and loud on central issues

A letter from Canada, as it were. Those in the United States who assume that Canada is irrelevant should realize that the social and moral policies of the country tend to move south rather quickly. In other words, what begins in Canada often spills over to the U.S. and is eventually embraced by Americans.

The abortion issue is particularly pertinent because many politicians on the American political left and within organized liberalism revere the Canadian model and want to replicate it. That model includes publicly funded abortion at any stage of a pregnancy. If a woman is under age and living at home, the medical authorities have no obligation to inform her parents—and may be prosecuted if they do so. To publicly question this now-established wisdom is to risk media and political crucifixion, and even the country’s Conservative Prime Minister, Stephen Harper, has said that he has no intention of reopening the abortion debate.

Until recently it looked as though it couldn’t get any worse. But we were wrong.

My friend Fr. Stefano Penna, who holds a doctorate in philosophy from Yale, is one of the most intelligent, thoughtful, and balanced men I know. A native of Saskatchewan and the Canadian prairies, he is now in charge of training Catholic seminarians for nearly all of western Canada. He wrote recently to me. “Just sent this to the liberals: four generations of Liberal voters ended for my family today. Justin's anti-free speech and anti-life diktat is appalling. You just lost the 26 votes of my clan. I will have no choice as a lecturer and teacher who engages over 10,000 people a year across Canada but to vocally advocate..........

[TBP]

The Democratic Party won’t allow pro-life candidates either.

[Mamzelle]

Really? Canadians support and pay for on-demand late term abortions? I thought the US was alone in the world in that depravity. I'd like some verification of that.

The French don't do that, the Germans don't. Most of the EU has some limits on abortion. But Warren Buffett doesn't run the EU yet.

[Mrs. Don-o]

Mamzelle, here's the first paragraph of the Wikipedia article on Abortion in Canada LINK):

"Abortion in Canada is not limited by criminal law but by the Canada Health Act.[1] While some non-legal obstacles exist, Canada is one of only a few nations with no legal restrictions on abortion."

China, Canada, and the USA, in that order, have the most extreme abortion laws in the world.

[Mamzelle]

Whew. I knew we were bad, but I thought only China and Russia were worse. Now it appears our NA neighbor is as bad, with the laws, as we are.

I do not hear much about Canadian late term abortion, however. I know that women do a lot of traveling to find those clinics, which are thankfully not in every state. Do they also cross the northern border to get late-gestation abortions?

And, if late term abortion is legal in Canada, how common and widespread is it?

I thought the UK was also pretty bad...

[Mamzelle]

Third-trimester abortions are not generally available[citation needed]. For instance, in Quebec, there is currently no doctor who will perform a third-term abortion unless the health of the woman is in great peril or there is a genetic disorder. Currently the province sends women who seek to have third-term abortions performed to the United States. Quebec is currently actively looking to hire a doctor to do third-term abortions, but has not been successful as of October 2004.

Heh, it may be legal, but they go to the US because of availability. So they posture as being pro-choice, but leave the dirty work to America.

[Mrs. Don-o]

For a long time, there were no doctors in the U.S. military that would do abortions on armed service members. That was true for decades; not sure if it's true now. Probably not. :(

But wouldn't that be great, if nobody would do abortions? I've always said I don't just want abortion to be illegal; I want it to be unthinkable.

[Shery]

What becomes tolerated by one generation becomes legal in the next, and then perverted by the next. Unfortunately, the church has been complicit. It did not take a stand when the issues came to the front, and now, no amount of grandstanding will reverse this culture of death. Only the return of our Lord Jesus Christ will we see righteousness return again. I find myself longing daily for His return. This culture of death grieves me, and seeing all the people marching over the cliff into eternal damnation is unsettling and heartbreaking. But, one must not give up trying to reach those who might be searching for Truth. We must prepare for the persecution that has raised its ugly head and is being felt by our brothers & sisters of Faith in the East and the Muslim countries. We will soon feel its rage against us and not just in rhetoric, but in deeds against us. May God give us courage to stand and to be faithful.