Docs urge Feds to drop abortion review
The nation's doctors are moving to stop any reopening of the abortion debate, saying life begins when a baby emerges from its mother's womb.
More than 250 delegates to the Canadian Medical Association's annual general council meeting Wednesday supported maintaining a section of the Criminal Code that declares a child becomes a human being at the moment of birth. Their move comes after concerns that a private member's motion in Parliament could be a back door to criminalizing abortion and the doctors who perform it.
Conservative MP Stephen Woodworth tabled his motion this spring. The motion seeks to create a House of Commons committee to review the Criminal Code section that declares a child becomes a human being "when it has completely proceeded, in a living state, from the body of its mother."
Prime Minister Stephen Harper has continually said that his government will not bring forward abortion legislation. With some top Conservative cabinet ministers saying they will vote against Woodworth's motion, it appears doomed in the Commons when debate resumes in the fall.
"This attempt to modify the definition of a human being could legally recognize the fetus, which would give the fetus rights," said Montreal physician Dr. Genevieve Desbiens. "This constitutes a recriminalization, not only of abortion, but any form of contraception."
"This could prevent a pregnant woman from travelling or taking certain drugs to protect the child she's carrying. We must ensure that women seeking to terminate pregnancy and the doctors who support them and want to help them are not criminalized."
She said it's urgent for doctors to exert pressure on the government "so that this motion has no chance of being passed and the debate is not reopened."
"I'm not asking you whether you are for, or against abortion," Desbiens told delegates. "I'm asking for you to recognize that women must retain their full and complete rights," she said to applause.
Ontario physician Dr. John Ludwig warned the group against "unintended consequences." He said the criminal code is "ancient and does need to be revised."
"If an assailant plunged a knife in the 38-week gestational belly of your spouse, we would all consider that murder. But the Criminal Code says that, because that fetus did not leave the body alive, it doesn't have any rights.
"I think we need a new policy that somewhat more balances the rights for women to have a therapeutic abortion when they wish, up to 20 weeks, and then protects the life of that child from 20 weeks on, once it's able to live on its own upon delivery from the womb."
Dr. Carole Williams, of Victoria, said the private member's motion "is a back-door way for government to reopen Roe versus Wade," the 1973 decision that legalized abortion in the United States.
"It's inappropriate to have government intervention into control of ourselves, our bodies and our children," she said.
The nation's doctors are moving to stop any reopening of the abortion debate, saying life begins when a baby emerges from its mother's womb.
More than 250 delegates to the Canadian Medical Association's annual general council meeting Wednesday supported maintaining a section of the Criminal Code that declares a child becomes a human being at the moment of birth. Their move comes after concerns that a private member's motion in Parliament could be a back door to criminalizing abortion and the doctors who perform it.
Conservative MP Stephen Woodworth tabled his motion this spring. The motion seeks to create a House of Commons committee to review the Criminal Code section that declares a child becomes a human being "when it has completely proceeded, in a living state, from the body of its mother."
Prime Minister Stephen Harper has continually said that his government will not bring forward abortion legislation. With some top Conservative cabinet ministers saying they will vote against Woodworth's motion, it appears doomed in the Commons when debate resumes in the fall.
"This attempt to modify the definition of a human being could legally recognize the fetus, which would give the fetus rights," said Montreal physician Dr. Genevieve Desbiens. "This constitutes a recriminalization, not only of abortion, but any form of contraception."
"This could prevent a pregnant woman from travelling or taking certain drugs to protect the child she's carrying. We must ensure that women seeking to terminate pregnancy and the doctors who support them and want to help them are not criminalized."
She said it's urgent for doctors to exert pressure on the government "so that this motion has no chance of being passed and the debate is not reopened."
"I'm not asking you whether you are for, or against abortion," Desbiens told delegates. "I'm asking for you to recognize that women must retain their full and complete rights," she said to applause.
Ontario physician Dr. John Ludwig warned the group against "unintended consequences." He said the criminal code is "ancient and does need to be revised."
"If an assailant plunged a knife in the 38-week gestational belly of your spouse, we would all consider that murder. But the Criminal Code says that, because that fetus did not leave the body alive, it doesn't have any rights.
"I think we need a new policy that somewhat more balances the rights for women to have a therapeutic abortion when they wish, up to 20 weeks, and then protects the life of that child from 20 weeks on, once it's able to live on its own upon delivery from the womb."
Dr. Carole Williams, of Victoria, said the private member's motion "is a back-door way for government to reopen Roe versus Wade," the 1973 decision that legalized abortion in the United States.
"It's inappropriate to have government intervention into control of ourselves, our bodies and our children," she said.
