Friday, June 18, 2010

Abortion — A Scientific Question

The Canadian Centre for Policy Studies has posted a great French language essay by Richard Bastien. The essay is titled "L'Avortement - c'est une question scientifique" ("Abortion - it's a scientific question") and it presents quite a strong case for fetal rights, without resorting to religious considerations:
Although many pro-life activists have strong religious convictions, [it's not because of] their religion that they oppose abortion in the public space. The pro-life position is based entirely and exclusively on scientifically established facts, namely that human life begins at conception, and a moral principle, namely that all human beings have the right to life.

The Supreme Court of Canada ruled [little more than twenty years ago], [that] under the law, the unborn child becomes a human being once removed from the body of his mother. The provisions of the Criminal Code now agree with that assessment. The fact remains that, from a strictly scientific point of view, the unborn child is a human being.
...
The idea that the life of an unborn child is subject to the will of his mother (or father's pressure on it) is far from liberal. The word "liberal" derives from the notion of ["liberalism"], [which], according to Webster, means charity, generosity, liberality, magnificence. We are told that the unborn child should be wanted. But the idea of getting rid of unwanted people is neither charitable nor generous, nor wide. It contradicts the first [right] recognized in the charters of rights - the right to life.
And, talking about the fetal rights battle - here's some good news, for a change:
The University of Victoria’s pro-life club has won a surprising victory in its freedom of speech battle with the student society, reports Steve Weatherbe. The newly elected student society’s board has decided to reverse the rulings of two previous boards since 2008 to withhold Youth Protecting Youth’s funding. As well as paying $719 in club grants withheld since 2008, the board removed several amendments to the society’s anti-harassment policies made by the outgoing board, designed to ban prolife advocacy from the campus.
Finally, logic, common sense and scientific reasoning have won out over the ideology. (Yet, it still took a law suit for the "student society" to reconsider its policies towards a pro-life club on campus.) Way to go Youth Protecting Youth.

1 comment:

Osumashi Kinyobe said...

Righto.
Pro-lifers argue the issue in all or most of its facets, including scientific. Pro-abortionists, on the other hand, decry the alleged religiosity of pro-lifers and refuse- point-blank- to offer a scientific argument for THEIR side.