Liberal and Pro-Abortion MP Carolyn Bennett:
I am totally fed up with ‘lawyered’ assertions that totally misrepresent the facts. In Canada, we do not have a law, we do have very strict professional guidelines. No physician in Canada can terminate a pregnancy over 24 weeks without serious indications such as if the life of the mother at risk, or if the fetus has very serious malformations. I have sat with these women as they received the terrible news and sat with them throughout the terrible long, tear-drenched process. Mr. [Jonathan] Kay’s assertion that late trimester abortions can be performed ‘for any reason, or no reason at all’ is just not true. I challenge him to find ONE late trimester abortion performed in Canada to a healthy mother with a healthy fetus.
The following is a translation of a radio interview with a woman who had an abortion at 26 weeks. It was with Isabelle Maréchal on 98.5 FM in Montreal broadcast on April 9th, 2013.
The topic of the show was: Is abortion too trivialized?
The interviewee's name is Karel. She said she had five abortions. She said that she did not use contraception -- by the sound of things, it seems she used some kind of rhythm method, but I'm making an inference. She was afraid of the Birth Control Pill.
She said her fifth abortion was done at 26 weeks of pregnancy. She does not explain all the details of why she waited until 26 weeks. It sounded like there was strong hesitation. She said she had her abortion at the CLSC des Faubourgs (the office on rue Sanguinet), which specializes in late-term abortions and in referring women to the United States for post-viability abortions.
Here's the exchange with host Isabelle Maréchal, beginning at 21:40 of the radio show:
HOST: We will now talk to Karel. Now Karel, I get the impression that you will provoke quite a bit of reaction from our listeners. Just now, there was Audrey who spoke to us of her three abortions and already I have people who speaking up to say that three abortions-- that maybe that shows a little bit of lack of judgement. Because Norman here [on social media] who tells me his ex-partner was a nurse at Sacré-Coeur hospital and that she always say the same women [undergoing abortions] as if some women used it as a contraceptive method. You, Karel, you had five abortions...
CALLER: Yes.
HOST: Explain to me why that is.
CALLER: Well, first off, I'm a bit nervous [Not completely clear]. Well, the first time that it happened to me I was nineteen years old. I was with a person who.. well, he already had a child, and I became pregnant and he didn't want any more because his girl was two years old. So in a way I respected that fact because I have this Cinderella notion of meeting the man of my life before having a family and living happily ever after. So I respected that. [Explains second abortion] And I don't know if it's because we don't know our own bodies but.. or we're not regular and it happened a second time--
HOST: You were 21 years old I think
CALLER: Yes. We were on the verge of leaving each other, and it wasn't going well, and my mother always told me -- we were three children at home-- she always told me "Don't have kids to fix your relationship because that's not true, it will only make things worse."
HOST: She's not wrong...
CALLER: I went through the private system, I went to Morgentaler's. I wanted it in the private system to not be judged by the nurses and doctors and I said to myself "you pay for it and they're not there to judge you." Quite the contrary, they had a lot of empathy.
HOST: But...five times... at the end of say the third or fourth time, maybe you would start saying to yourself, maybe ...
CALLER: You spoke of the spiritual level... the last listener [caller], I was so in agreement with her I'll say like her there is really a link... I would say, we are so angry with ourselves, when it happens a third time you say "Oh my God!" I'm-- not a murderer but-- there are people who pay to have children and they're there thinking "I'm paying and I would be careful with that kid..." Yeah, I would be careful too, but I know I'm with the wrong partner, I knew that I was too young, that I didn't want that, and that wasn't what I had as a spiritual concept of harmony with myself. I will only get him into trouble, Child Protection is going to get involved--
HOST: But Karel, were you taking contraceptive measures?
CALLER: No. I was always afraid of the Birth Control Pill.
HOST: But you were more afraid of the Pill than abortion.
CALLER: Wishful thinking is [unclear] It can't happen to me. But the last time it happened to me, the fifth time, I got pretty far into the pregnancy. Sometimes you have dilemmas, too.
HOST: Up to what week? How many weeks?
CALLER: I was 26 weeks.
HOST: Oh wow, and they aborted you anyway?
CALLER: At the CLSC on Rue Sanguinet. They handle pregnancies of more than 24 weeks.
HOST: Did you have a problem? Was it a [high-risk] pregnancy that endangered your life?
CALLER: No, I had no problems. I was O negative, but that was no problem, because today I have a child. But uh..what I want to say is...that was something with myself that...well, when I felt my son I said "Oh my God, I got to that point, that [aborted] child was alive!" But I underwent a major spiritual journey by going--
HOST: [Interrupts, sounding skeptical] I don't understand how they could've aborted you at 26 weeks if you weren't in a high-risk pregnancy.
CALLER: It's because... the person with whom this happened with was a person who had a lot of money... I could have benefited from that...
HOST: No, that's not the point. [Sounding skeptical] You're telling me this was in a CLSC, therefore it's government...they accepted to abort you at 26 weeks. Normally, it's 20 weeks or under.
CALLER: Well I would say get the facts because it was at the CLSC on Rue Sanguinet that it took place.
HOST: At 26 weeks? That... that's two-thirds of a pregnancy.We can't say it's an embryo any more...
CALLER: I know.
HOST: We can always debate about the [moral] state of the fetus but it looks more like a baby than an embryo at 26 weeks.
CALLER: Yes, he even moved. I thought it was gas. But it wasn't gas, it was kicks.
[HOST expresses surprised disbelief.]
CALLER: The guilt that I experienced with that... I know there are plenty of people who judge but... it's gone beyond that. I am where I am. And I will tell you I'm very happy. And I don't regret it to be honest with you. I regret towards myself [sic] but at the same time I don't regret what I'm living today, the well-being. I made peace with it. I made those spirits go away because I believe there was a soul, and I believe we all have a spiritual journey to undergo in this present life, and it was necessary that I go through with that to appreciate all that I have and I'm really happy to have done it-- it's too bad for those who're hearing this but I'm happy today because I'm 33 years old, I'm with the man of my life, I have a child, I'm living my [ideal of the family]. I go see a lady who takes care of the spiritual side to speak of your topic and I believe totally and firmly in it...
HOST: Well thank you for your honesty and your testimony. Thanks so much.
CALLER: Thank you. Goodbye.
____________________
I can understand the host's skepticism towards this caller. After all, it is widely repeated that abortions don't happen after 20 weeks.
Of course, the abortion lobby itself admits that there are very late-term elective abortions.
They are rare, but they do happen.
