Dr. Roy stole my thunder this morning when he highlighted Jonathan Kay’s summary of Joseph Ben Ami’s case for coming up with an abortion law or some kind of legal restrictions here in Canada. As anyone who has been following the debate knows, there is no law at all concerning abortion at the present time – nor is there any legal reason not to have one.
Some people make the argument that Canada’s abortion rates are going down, so why bother?
I guess my answer to that would be if crime rates in general are going down, should we therefore remove existing laws? Maybe we don’t need them anymore.
But the item that really caught my attention was #6:
6. Given the manner in which social revolutionaries are changing the face of bioethics, it is only a matter of time before an enterprising lawyer or activist judge is able to get an infanticide suspect off the hook on the grounds that (as described in point #1, above) what he did was little different from late-term abortion, a perfectly legal practice.
In Guelph a precedent-setting case is unfolding, and the judge is clearly perplexed . A woman has been accused of killing her seven-week-old son in Kitchener in 1998 and nine-week-old son in Guelph in 2002:
...Defence counsel Craig Parry is arguing his client is instead guilty of the rare charge of infanticide because her mind was "disturbed" by the effects of childbirth at the time of each killing…
The Crown is pushing for a murder charge, but Justice Cas Herold is unsure and is now wrestling with the "legal definition of infanticide."
Parry is urging a wider interpretation of the law, saying that for example breastfeeding can lead to sleep deprivation and this could alter a woman’s state of mind.
All this makes me wonder what would have happened if the woman had killed someone else in her ‘disturbed’ state, rather than just her infant sons. Should the charge then be lessened too?
Or do infants that have less value than older human beings?
And if we have a sliding scale of human value, then who’s next?
* * * *
More background on the Guelph case – Disturbing letter shown at trial for mom accused of killing sons (Record.)
Luca weighs in here.
And Morton from Liblogs muses on the usefulness of the summary, which causes the fake Cherniak to utter some amusing comments.
New Poll up! – Does Canada need some kind of abortion law?
Hi Joanne
Great post as usual. Correct me if I’m wrong (and I very often am), but I don’t think the comments you refer to are from Jason Cherniak.
Thanks, Barbara. I appreciate your pointing that out about Cherniak. I guess I read Austin’s comment referring to “Jason” and took it from there.
In any case, I’ve made a correction in the main post. Merci!
Questions that ONLY a Liberal would have trouble answering.
OMMAG, the silence from the left is deafening.
Hey Joanne
You’re welcome. I hope I didn’t come across rude, but I just didn’t want to give the left any ammunition against a great Conservative blogger.
I think this is just lawyering at its “finest”. But I fail to see how the slippery slope argument is going to work. I mean, those babies were born, living humans. Sure, motherhood can screw with a woman’s state of mind, and might even make her delusional enough to kill someone, but I fail to see the difference between her killing a baby or anyone else. Human is human.
Baby in utero? I dunno. It’s such a tricky question, fraught with entirely too many variables. For me, life begins at the same place as it ends: brain function. No brain function, no human life. But hell if I know how to codify that in any sort of fair or moral way.
p.s. I’m pregnant. So it’s a touchy issue with me.
Barbara, that’s very kind of you. We all make mistakes but I always appreciate well-intentioned corrections.
Gabby from Quebec is my editor for example. I haven’t heard from her in a while. I guess she is on vacation. Well, she deserves it.
but I fail to see the difference between her killing a baby or anyone else. Human is human.
I think we are in agreement here, Luna.
p.s. I’m pregnant. So it’s a touchy issue with me.
Congratulations!
Dear Joanne,
One of the best arguments against abortion that nobody ever mentions is rampant baby snatching and baby selling (children trafficking) in Canada.
Here is link to Dead Baby Scam;
http://www.fixcas.com/oppose/deadbaby.htm
Here is another link to baby stealing at maternity wards:
http://boards.aetv.com/topic/What-Topic-Would/Childrens-Aid-Society/300012892&start=90
Scroll down to the very bottom and read post #196.
We got to a point where great many young women in Canada are faced with a choice of having an abortion or having their newborn children stolen by CAS right after delivery.
Thanks for those links, Karol. I had never heard of that before. Those poor women!
Joanne,
When you look at things from children traffickers’ perspective Dr. Henry Morgentaler thru his “heroic” efforts to maim and render infertile Canadian women visiting his abortion clinics have created very lucrative multimillion dollars adoption industry in Canada…
[edited]
Sorry, Karol. I had to cut off the last part for liability reasons. As a blogger, I have to protect myself. I hope you understand. Cheers.