Canadian Cynic has launched another challenge-- to create an abortion policy for Canada.
This is what I would do if I were the head of a pro-fetal rights government:
I would pass a law to make funding abortion non-obligatory for the provinces. I would amend the Health Care act accordingly.
I would then pass a law criminalizing feticide, i.e. intracardiac injections of potassium chloride and any other poisonous agent, in singletons.
I would like to prevent cruelty babies, like this one, who died by feticide:
The penalty for injecting a syringe full of potassium chloride in the heart of a singleton would be five years in prison. I believe provincial bodies should remove the licenses of professionals who perform this procedure, but that's in their jurisdiction.
If someone unintentionally gets pregnant and is forced to carry to term but refuses to have anything to do with the child after it's born, how would you handle that?
That child is the parent's responsibility. If the parent is not ready to take care of that child, there are thousands of couples across Canada who would eagerly adopt up that baby. Adoption laws are a provincial responsibility, but I would certainly encourage my provincial counterparts to review these laws to streamline the process as much as possible.
you force someone to have a child she doesn't want, then you're kind of on the hook for looking after it, wouldn't you say?
Actually, no. The government is not responsible for your choices. The person who bears that child has a moral responsibility towards him.
And given the (theoretical) power to pass whatever legislation you wanted, would you allow, say, licensed pharmacists to exercise their freedom of religious belief to refuse to dispense certain prescriptions (such as birth control pills) if it offended their religious sensibilities.
That's a provincial jurisdiction, but sure.
I would also pass a law to require abortion providers to answer the Canadian therapeutic abortion survey and properly report on the details of the abortion, with information such as gestational age. Failure to comply would result in a fine of the person in the chain of data gathering who is responsible for non-compliance.
I would also prohibit the coding of late-term abortions as "stillbirths". Every procedure which has an objective the expulsion of a dead fetus would be counted as an "abortion". Statistical policy would be change to reflect that situation. Every surgical abortion would be counted in this country.
I would also call upon the medical bodies of our country to define what a "medically necessary" abortion is.
I would pass a law acknowledging that the fetus and mother are not the same body. I would also enshrine in law that the fetus is a homo sapiens.
That's what I would do in the first term.
But I strongly doubt the Conservative Party of Canada will do any of this. There is no desire to re-open the abortion policy.
Update:
Canadian Cynic thinks he is the epitome of logic. Yet he commits fallacy after fallacy.
For instance, Canadian Cynic asks what I would do if I led a pro-life government.
I said I would prosecute anyone who commits feticide.
The woman does not commit feticide. Ergo, she does not get prosecuted.
I did not say I would pass a law regarding women who undergo abortion.
Whoa, hang on there, Suzie -- you just finished saying that that newborn was the parent's responsibility, now you're offering them the opportunity to dump that kid on the state? So which is it? As I said, methinks Suzie hasn't really thought this through. And it shows.
Whew. That's really difficult to reconcile, there.
A baby is your responsibility. If you keep that baby, he is your responsibility. If you cannot undertake that responsibility, you can relinquish him to Child Protection.
Either a parent is legally responsible for that newborn, or he/she isn't. You can't have it both ways, so make up your mind.
Yeah. You have a moral responsibility for that child. Give him up or take care of him. Whew, that was tough.
Canadian Cynic: again, trying to read in his own prejudices about people he disagrees with.
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