I almost missed this one – Jonathan Kay’s How late is too late? It’s part of the ongoing series of debates about abortion in the National Post.
Kay alludes to a powerful ‘tribalism’ on both sides of the issue, which no doubt contributes to the lack of compromise and serious debate.
He suggests that the mere fact that the pro-choicers are hasty to point out the fact that very few abortions “take place in Canada ‘for social reasons’ beyond 20 weeks, and none beyond 24 weeks”, exposes their discomfort about the procedure at some point, even if they are reluctant to admit it:
…If the “dominant ideology of the unborn child” is a spurious construct invented by patriarchal moralists, why does it matter if that so-called unborn child weighs one pound or five? Why strike such defensive postures against an issue that no one in the room saw fit to discuss?
The answer to this last question, I think, is that these women are not so doctrinaire as they pretend. Within their own minds, they do wrestle with these important moral questions — as any intelligent person must. But when in public, they censor themselves. Locked in what they feel to be a tribal culture war against pro-lifers, the pro-choice camp allows itself no nuance. This is essentially the reason Canada has no abortion law: Any stirring of legislative action arouses such tribal war fury among pro-choicers as to send politicians scurrying…
For a real insight into how the pro-choice mind works, read Heather Mallick’s, Privacy and Pregnancy courtesy of our beloved Mothercorps.
Friday Update – John Williamson on subsidizing abortion: No birth, no benefits.
Monday Update – A Canadian controversy – Joanne Byfield.
