<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

The Overton Window is a political theory that an idea can transition from the unthinkable, to acceptable, and eventually be transformed into public policy.  <\/span>This idea is particularly relevant in Canada\u2019s abortion debate. The guest post below was written by Run with Life<\/a> blogger Pat Maloney, and gives an indication as to how the Overton Window is shifting. <\/span><\/p>\n

From the perspective of this campaign, it is incredibly encouraging to see the groundswell building! Canadians from across this vast country are using our talking points and we are clearly on the verge of a huge shift towards a legal recognition of pre-born human rights! Keep up the great work everyone!<\/span><\/p>\n

<\/span><\/p>\n

by Pat Maloney (re-published with permission)
<\/span><\/p>\n

Paul Russell devotes his entire column today in the National Post , The Week in Letters,<\/span><\/em> to the abortion debate in Canada:  Readers agree: It’s time Canada had an abortion law<\/a>.<\/p>\n

He also publishes some excellent letters under the title \u2018How many miracles were destroyed because of late-term abortions?<\/a><\/p>\n

A few excerpts below from Mr. Russell’s column:
“Our federal government doesn\u2019t want to reopen the abortion debate \u2014 but many of our readers definitely do. Scores of letters focused on that issue this week, with the vast majority calling for either limits or an outright ban on the practice.”<\/span><\/em><\/p>\n

\u201cWe need a debate on abortion in Canada,\u201d wrote Kieran McIllvray. \u201cOther Western countries have no problem with such debates. Why is Canada different? We are after all talking about human life. We need to have a clear understanding of what that means, biologically, medically and of course morally….<\/span><\/em><\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

…Three doctors waded into the debate on the Letters page. On Tuesday, in a note titled, \u201cHow to avoid live fetuses,\u201d Dr. Christiane Dauphinais stated that the Quebec College of Physicians instructs doctors that \u201cwhen performing an abortion on a woman who is 21 weeks pregnant or more \u2026 inject digoxin or potassium chloride into the fetus or the amniotic sac. This effectively kills the fetus, thereby avoiding having to deal with a live, aborted infant.\u201d This guidance from the medical college repulsed at least one reader.<\/span><\/em><\/p>\n

\u201cDoes this sound like a good doctor\u2019s healing treatment or rather like an executioner\u2019s order?\u201d asked Regina Kosalka. \u201cSo much for the Hippocratic Oath reinforced in the Declaration of Geneva after the Second World War in response to atrocities perpetrated by Nazi and imperial Japanese \u2018doctors\u2019 participating in inhumane medical practices.\u201d…<\/span><\/em><\/em><\/p>\n

…A few readers pointed out how loaded the terminology is around abortion.<\/span><\/em><\/em><\/p>\n

\u201cThank you for giving the issue of late term abortions the coverage it deserves, even though it was not an emotionally easy read,\u201d wrote Patrick Stewart. \u201cIt is interesting how language affects how we think and act. A mother who plans to take her pregnancy to full term will refer to the unborn as \u2018her baby,\u2019 while another who plans not to carry the unborn to full term \u2014 and those who will assist her \u2014 refer to the unborn as \u2018a fetus.\u2019 \u201d<\/span><\/em><\/em><\/p>\n

\u201cEndless discussions about abortion is becoming stale and tedious, because [no one] can seem to make up their mind about the fetus-in-the-woman,\u201d added Peter Koning. \u201cWe do not dare to talk about a real baby in mother\u2019s womb.\u201d<\/span><\/em><\/em><\/p>\n

He offered this advice on how to bring clarity to the issue.<\/span><\/em><\/em><\/p>\n

\u201cIs our future Queen, Kate Middleton, pregnant with a fetus or a baby?\u201d Ms. Koning asked. \u201cHalf if not more of the world is anxiously waiting for the birth of her baby, not her fetus. We don\u2019t talk about her fetus, do we? It is a baby in her and every pregnant woman\u2019s womb. Maybe the pro-abortionists should rethink what is in a woman\u2019s uterus. Our government should also do some rethinking on the issue.\u201d<\/span><\/em><\/em><\/p>\n

Once again the National Post engages in the abortion debate. A debate we can’t have in Parliament, a debate we can’t have in most of the media, and a debate we can’t have on university campuses.<\/p>\n

Another insight into the abortion debate is this telling “pro-choice” comment yesterday<\/a> in the Post from Jesse Kline, on the notion of morality. He says:
“Given that our society clearly has not come to a consensus about whether abortion is immoral, restricting a woman\u2019s right to choose entails imposing one group\u2019s morality upon another. In a free society, this act is itself morally wrong.”<\/span><\/em><\/p>\n

Following this logic, we should also not impose our morality on those sectors of the world’s population who practice, say stoning adulterers. Or those people who practice murder and rape. If we do, then we are imposing our morality on another person right? But the reality is, that in a “free society”, humankind makes laws based on morality all the time, just look at our criminal code. It’s full of laws based on morality, that is what criminal law does. It would be morally wrong to not<\/span><\/em> put such laws in place to protect the innocent. The only exception to this usual code of a societal morality, especially in Canada, seems to be when it comes to abortion. Why is that?<\/p>\n

But the good news in all of this is, that if we consider all the places we can’t have the debate, it seems to me that we are doing a pretty good job of having it in the National Post. Maybe Parliament, the rest of the media and the Universities will eventually come on board too. Otherwise they just might find themselves left behind.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The Overton Window is a political theory that an idea can transition from the unthinkable, to acceptable, and eventually be transformed into public policy.  This idea is particularly relevant in Canada\u2019s abortion debate. The guest post below was written by Run with Life blogger Pat Maloney, and gives an indication as to how the Overton […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3014,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[61],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/test.weneedalaw.ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/373"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/test.weneedalaw.ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/test.weneedalaw.ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/test.weneedalaw.ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3014"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/test.weneedalaw.ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=373"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/test.weneedalaw.ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/373\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":5397,"href":"https:\/\/test.weneedalaw.ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/373\/revisions\/5397"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/test.weneedalaw.ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=373"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/test.weneedalaw.ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=373"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/test.weneedalaw.ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=373"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}