BY PAT WIEDEMER
GUEST OPINION
In response to the recent flash-in-the-pan reaction to Kate McKenna’s book “No Choice: the 30-Year Fight for Abortion on Prince Edward Island,” May 7, 2018, I feel compelled to direct the focus back to reality. Let us be very clear, this drama is not about health care for women. No one is standing against the advancement of cancer screenings, mental-health care, pre- and postnatal care for women, etc. The fact that P.E.I. has a notorious lack of family doctors who provide these and many other real health services means that McKenna’s appeal for abortion as part of P.E.I. women’s health is definitely misdirected.
Have you ever travelled in a foreign country and not spoken the language, Ms. McKenna? Then you will have experienced that there are those who think that by shouting at you, you will somehow understand them better. This is exactly what the pro-abortion side does. Please stop shouting at us! We speak the language of truth.
No matter how often or how loud you are, the fact remains there is no right to abortion, not in the Charter and not in the law. P.E.I. did not have a “ban on abortion,” P.E.I. upheld the law and the moral good of society as per the Canadian Constitution by keeping women from being pressured into abortion precisely because they felt they had “no choice” but to kill the baby in their womb. If you want to let out a cry to the heavens, then demand better social services, violence protection and family support for women, especially for those marginalized during this vulnerable time.
Abortion is not health care. The fetus (Latin word for young one) is a human person with individual DNA, separate and unique from the mother. Circumstances do not change the humanity of this young life that will not be fully developed until about 18 years of age. That P.E.I. pro-life supporters needed to spend 30 years – publicly upholding a self-evident truth, ought not to be considered a mark of shame as implied in your title, but a badge of honor to the truth and sense of dignity all Islanders acknowledged whether in or outside of the womb. By the way, the pro-life generation has been crossing generations since the dawn of time. Ann Wheatley’s statement that the pro-abortion advocates have “crossed a generation” is only remarkable in that this is a group that advocates the killing of its own young. No wonder she thinks this is an accomplishment.
“Abortion is the ultimate degradation of women. It strips women of their dignity.” spoke Nicole Campbell, National Director for 40 Days for Life. She recalls: “This is the most heartbreaking…to be standing there with a woman who wants to go back …The horror of the realization that their child is no longer within their womb- it’s devastating.” This is by no means a reason to be “celebrating the many people who fought for those services” as you claim. This is not pro-women. Happy Mother’s Day, Ms. McKenna.
- Pat Wiedemer is executive director, P.E.I. Right to Life Association
