It seems very clear that the Ontario government has become concerned that pro-life forces have found renewed political strength. What used to be a “settled” question is no longer settled. Many Canadians, for example, are disturbed over the issue of sex selection via abortion of female fetuses. The phenomenon is causing discomfort amongst rigid multiculturalists, some of whom occupy positions of power.
The abortion numbers we already know – over 100,000 a year in Canada, and 44,000 billed-for abortion in Ontario alone in 2010 (we won’t be able to know how many in 2011) – are making it clear that remaining the only country in the free world with no abortion regulations is not possible indefinitely.
What is needed is more public discussion on the issue, not a cowardly clampdown on information that will help guide us in that discussion. Behind Ontario’s Bill 122 is a totalitarian impulse. This undemocratic Act should not stand.
Even people who favour legal abortion should oppose this censorship.
Every government purchase, every government action, short of those dealing with state secrets and national security, should be subject to scrutiny.
Every.one.
When you start making exceptions for some, the slippery slope begins.
So what's going to be suppressed, next? Stats on same-sex marriage? Drug use? Name any controversial topic.
The government has no right to dictate to the people what they can or cannot discuss through the suppression of information.
The notion that aggregate abortion stats undermines abortion access is a farce.
The only thing it undermines is the case for legal abortion.
But if it doesn't, which I suspect supporters of legal abortion will make, then this censorship is even more outrageous.
Either way, the government should not hide information from its people.
