Abortion Politics in Canada
I don’t write about Canadian politics much. I do follow it but I know most of the folks at St Blogs are not Canadian so they would not care much. Still I think we have reached a new low in terms of the social conservative politic agenda. That is mostly the issues of abortion and gay marriage.
What has happened is that Henry Morgentaler has received the Order of Canada. Dr Morgentaler is the name most strongly associated with the pro abortion movement in Canada. He used to do abortions when they were illegal and went to jail a few times for it. Now it is no surprise to see such an individual get applauded in liberal circles. But what shocks me is that right now our Prime Minister, Steven Harper, is from the Conservative party. That is the party that almost all pro life people vote for because it is seen as the most sympathetic to the social conservatives. In other words it would be the closest thing Canada has to the Republican party.
So here we have the social conservatives working hard to get their party elected and when they win they end up with the government paying homage to abortion activists in a way the previous Liberal government never did. There is an assumption that a party calling itself Conservative would at least be somewhat more friendly to the pro life cause. Maybe it is just based on the alliances that have been forged in the US around abortion. I know I have always been more skeptical than most about how deep their commitment to the pro life cause runs. Still I was shocked at the depth of deception and betrayal Steven Harper has now shown. I don’t like him but if someone would have predicted this I would have said they were crazy to expect such despicable behavior even from the worst of politicians. I mean even immoral people don’t spit in the face of thousands of people who have worked hard to get him elected. At the very least they only do it when they have something else to gain. This is a case where Harper seems to have no other obvious self interest at stake. I just don’t get it.
It was good to see Archbishop Tom Collins speak up on this issue. In fact, he seems to have started a trend with a large number of Catholic organizations speak out. I can’t say I am optimistic.
