The “reconciliation” process that would have allowed Republicans to eliminate Obamacare’s forced abortion coverage mandate and $500 million tax dollars going to Planned Parenthood ends Sept. 30. The GOP has failed to secure majority support in the U.S. Senate after Sen. Susan Collins of Maine effectively killed the bill when she announced her opposition Sept. 25. The bill, which President Donald Trump [...]
Talk Turkey Josie Luetke In a YouTube video published on July 25, as part of a series called “Philosophy Time,” featuring actor James Franco and his friend Eliot Michaelson, Princeton University philosophy professor Liz Harman tries to justify the view that early-stage abortions are morally neutral. Her argument, in a nutshell, is this: If a fetus does not have moral [...]
Law Matters John Carpay In Canada today, if you want to shut down the conference, rally or speaking engagement of someone whose opinion you disagree with, all you need to do to is accuse your opponent of being far right, racist, fascist, white supremacist, Islamophobic, or homophobic. The accusations need not be true, as long as they are shocking and [...]
In Extreme Measures: Finding a Better Path to the End of Life, Jessica Nutik Zitter, a Montreal-born physician and specialist in critical care medicine, gives a graphic insider’s account of how well-meaning critical care specialists like herself are all-too-apt to inflict futile, unnecessary and agonizing suffering upon dying patients in an intensive-care unit (ICU). To begin with, Zitter describes her first attempt [...]
In 2002, Richard Florida published his book The Rise of the Creative Class and made a career for himself as an urban theorist, traveling the world lecturing and advising on how struggling, economically challenged cities could revive themselves. His “creative class” – a loose coalition that included artists, tech workers, academics and, interestingly, gay men and women – were rebuilding decimated downtown [...]
The recent populist electoral convulsions in the U.S. and Europe has led to a lot of dubious analysis, but one insightful book about what is happening in the west is David Goodhart’s The Road to Somewhere: The Populist Revolt and the Future of Politics (Hurst, $27.50, 278 pages). Goodhart looks at British politics and finds that the division is less about left [...]
There is a new book out by Globe and Mail columnist Doug Saunders called Maximum Canada: Why 35 Million Canadians is Not Enough (Penguin, $27.95). In brief he argues Canada has too much land and too few people. In some ways he is counter-intuitive, saying that more people are necessary for Canada to become an environmental leader. Typically, more population is seen [...]
There was a time when many Progressive Conservatives and Republicans supported so-called abortion rights and many Liberals, NDP, and Democrats were pro-life. (The joke used to be that all those right-wing politicians needed abortion to be legal so they could cover up their mistresses’ pregnancies.) The early pages of The Interim featured advertisements for both Liberals for Life and Tories for Life. [...]
As Donald Trump’s approval ratings appear to slump, the Democrats are hoping to take back the House of Representatives in 2018. Their strategy, unlike that of Canada’s Liberal Party or New Democratic Party, will not exclude pro-lifers. Though the 2016 Democratic platform called for support for Planned Parenthood, opposition to abortion restrictions both in the United States and around the world, and [...]
The Convention on the Rights of the Child Treaty was ratified in 1989 and remains the most universally endorsed human rights treaty globally. The CRC is specific about the legitimate right all children have to be protected from the use of illicit drugs. Four articles within the CDC speak directly to this: Article 3: “In all actions concerning children, whether undertaken by public [...]
Light is Right Joe Campbell Oh, I know it can be addictive, especially if you start using it in your teens. But it’s also medicinal. Among other benefits, a compound it contains may reduce anxiety, ease symptoms of schizophrenia and Parkinson’s disease, and prevent weight gain. Nevertheless, it’s still under a stigma. I’m not talking about marijuana. I’m talking about [...]
Polish Canadian for Life demonstrate in Ottawa in support of Mary Wagner on the day of sentencing in Toronto Sept. 12. In August, Ontario Court Justice Rick Libman found Mary Wagner guilty of mischief and breach of probation stemming from charges for a Dec. 12, 2016 incident at the Bloor West Village Women’s Clinic in Toronto. Libman invited character references [...]
More than 34,612 emails and 1,078 letters of support were sent to Ontario Court Justice Rick Libman in support of Mary Wagner. We excerpt some of the communications below. For the story about the letters and Wagner's sentences, see 'Outpouring of support for Wagner' HERE. I wholeheartedly support the efforts of Ms. Mary Wagner to protect the rights of unborn children – [...]
SPUC's Anthony McCarthy said British oby-gyns betrayed women and children. The Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists voted Sept. 22 to call upon the British Parliament to rescind sections 58 and 59 of the Offences Against the Persons Act (1861) which required women seeking an abortion to obtain the approval of two doctors. Women who did not do so and [...]
The Liberal government of Nova Scotia will provide free abortion pills to women in the province beginning sometime later this year. The announcement was made by Kelly Regan, Minister Responsible for the Status of Women, on Sept. 22. She said, “this is important because I believe and this government believes in the reproductive rights of women.” Under the new policy, Nova Scotia [...]