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Why do the unborn have no rights in Canada?

Dear editor, In response to the letter from Mike Lazare, Who wants unwanted children? (Record, Oct. 3).

Dear editor,

In response to the letter from Mike Lazare, Who wants unwanted children? (Record, Oct. 3).

I appreciate your sincerity and your concern for Canadian women and agree wholeheartedly that it is a tragedy that any have suffered illness and even died through illegal abortions in the past.

However, I believe in Canada many of us have talked ourselves into the idea that abortion is simply another medical procedure with no moral ramifications. Placing the focus on the question, "Is anyone willing to adopt?" is misguided (adoption wait lists are long) and a (I trust well-intended) red herring detracting from the real issue.

That real issue is this — that those who argue passionately for "a woman's right to choose" do so at the cost of millions of voiceless Canadians being robbed of their right to choose.

Why do the unborn have no rights in Canada? And is it actually in women's best interest to persuade them that what they carry is a blob, not a person?

The inconsistency of our own language, even your use of the term "child" to describe an unborn human, betrays what we know at our core is true.

A woman becomes pregnant willingly, and we celebrate with her that there is a baby in her womb. If the baby is unwanted, however, we assure her that she can simply end this pregnancy.

Despite the fact that he has his own unique DNA, brainwaves, and a heartbeat, he is not a person, only an appendage to her own body; it's not the death of a person, it's just ending the pregnancy.

The youngest born baby to survive was born at 21 weeks, five days, born, ironically, in Ottawa. Abort another child, not yet born, at 22 weeks, and Ottawa says it's OK.

Our nation's elected leaders had the opportunity through Bill 312 to set up a committee to investigate the question "when does an unborn child become a person?"

While 91 MPs recognized the need to address this question, I am ashamed that the rest of those who voted, including our own MP and our prime minister, felt it is better to ignore this elephant in the room.

Slavery was the norm for decades in Britain until at last, after years of effort, the rights of slaves were acknowledged. One day historians will describe the era of unrestricted abortion in Canada as the tragic, dark blot on our story that it is.

This wrong will one day be righted by leaders willing to face the growing mountain of plain biological facts in the eye. Let's start caring enough about women to stop lying to them about what's in their wombs; post-abortive trauma is real and common.

Let's give the 100,000 babies slated for abortion in Canada this year a fighting chance to show the infinite worth they possess, regardless of who deems them "wanted."

For these reasons and many more, I issue you and my fellow citizens this challenge: Please discuss and rethink this deeply important matter (watching the free October Baby movie, at 7 p.m. at the Sid this Friday could be a first step).

For the unborn, we are their only voice.

David Mitchell,

Comox