I’m starting to feel a bit like a detective. After all, this is the second pro-abortion event that I’ve “spied on.” I tend to approach these things with apprehension. I mean, what if I am found out? What if they see my contempt, read the disgust in my eyes? Will they drown me with their propaganda and their infantile cries of “Choice Now?”
I’ve always had a morbid curiosity about the pro-abortion mentality. And, in all fairness, I’ve always tried to at least understand, if not sympathize with their thinking. So, it was with some hope of ‘enlightenment’ that I attended the “Celebrating Four Years of Morgentaler’s success rally in mid-June. I joined approximately 150 women, and the odd man, at Queen’s Park who were gathered together to pat themselves on the back, as it were, and find inspiration to “continue the fight” for legalized abortion clinics.
I was really disappointed with the rally. All efforts to be fair minded were in vain, as I was confronted on all sides with insults and lies. So much for enlightenment.
Upon arriving at Queen’s Park, I spotted a rather conspicuous sign that read “Anti-Choice are Racist, Prejudiced, and Women-Hatters.” Come on, ladies! Since when has name calling achieved anything? I could just as easily call them Anti-Life, but to what end? Insults, labels and accusations seem to be an ideal way of avoiding honest discussion and real progress.
This sign set the tone for the rest of the rally. The speakers constantly offended me with their whining complaints and their petitions to “reject the hypocrisy and lies” of the “anti-choice, anti-woman” faction. I personally can’t remember ever having lied about abortion, and I’ve yet to hear a fellow pro-lifer deliberately mislead anyone, so I’ve got to wonder how they justify their “hypocrisy and lies” catch-phrase. Perhaps they should honestly examine their own philosophy before handing out the label of liar.
In doctors’ hands
Consider some of the outrageous statements. “The Therapeutic Abortion Committee (TAC) will never be acceptable to us, as it leaves the abortion decision in the control of a group of doctors rather than the woman herself…a woman is forced to place her future and her happiness in the hands of a doctor who may arbitrarily force her to continue an unwanted pregnancy…” What in the world are they talking about? Everyone knows that the ‘Therapeutic’ in T.A.C. is a joke.
In 1985, no applications for abortion were refused at the Ottawa Civic Hospital. According to the Chairman of the TAC at the Civic. “It is not the place of the committee to question the applications…all abortions up to 20 weeks of pregnancy are approved for ‘psycho social’ reasons; if a woman has seen a doctor her desire for abortion qualifies because refusal could be bad for her health.” The situation is likewise at Kingston General Hospital and numerous other hospitals. It is common knowledge that that ‘desire’ constitutes a valid reason for abortion at most Toronto hospitals.
The dictionary definition of “Therapeutic” is “the healing of disease, curative.” Since when has an unwanted pregnancy been a disease?
Their tirades were not limited to abortion alone. They complained at length of the great injustices done unto them by men, and bemoaned oppressive police and government; “Not only do they want to stop us from achieving true equality, but now they want to take away what we’ve already accomplished.” This sounded rather ludicrous in the face of the pay equity legislation that was passed the very same morning, and the serious day-care proposals that were tabled in the commons just days earlier.
A high point of the rally was a rather inaudible and bizarre “play” about the history of the Morgentaler clinic. Women in outrageous costumes paraded about the stage while screaming something unprintable about “the pro-zygote radicals.” While watching this spectacle, I was given a flyer with the illuminating title “Choice.” I assume that it was supposed to bring my attention to “desperately needed abortions services,” repressive laws,” and the need to “pressure…governments to fund…clinics which will provide free abortions and other related services for all women.”
