PUBLICATION:        The London Free Press 

DATE:                         2003.12.02

EDITION:                    Final 

SECTION:                  Opinion Pages 

PAGE:                         A7 

BYLINE:                     RORY LEISHMAN, LONDON FREELANCE WRITER 

http://www.canoe.ca/Columnists/leishman.html

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NEW LAWS NEEDED TO PROTECT THE UNBORN

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In a recent national opinion survey, Leger Marketing asked a representative sample of Canadians: "In your view, when did your own life begin? Was it at conception; at birth; sometime between conception and birth; after birth?"

Twenty-six per cent selected at birth; 12 per cent between conception and birth; and 22 per cent after birth.

Only 32 per cent correctly affirmed that their life as a human being began at conception (a process that is also denoted in medical literature as fertilization). That every human life begins at conception or fertilization is not a debatable opinion. It's an irrefutable, scientific fact.

Thus, Dr. Keith Moore and Dr. T. V. N. Persaud succinctly affirm in the sixth edition of their authoritative medical textbook, The Developing Human: Clinically Oriented Embryology: "Human development begins at fertilization, the process during which a male gamete or sperm unites with a female gamete or oocyte, to form a single cell called a zygote. This highly specialized, totipotent cell marks the beginning of each of us as a unique individual."

In the Leger poll, the respondents were next asked: "In your opinion, at what point in human development should the law protect human life? Should it be from conception on; after three months of pregnancy; after six months of pregnancy; or from the point of birth."

Only 31 per cent upheld the pro-life position -- that the law should protect every human life from conception.

Given the widespread confusion over when human life begins, the failure of most Canadians to uphold the sanctity of all human life in the womb is hardly surprising. There can be no hope of assuring that every unborn child in Canada is welcomed in life and protected in law, until most Canadians grasp the basic truth that life begins at conception.

As it is, Canada stands alone among the so-called civilized nations in having no law whatsoever to protect the life of the unborn child. In Canada, an abortionist can lawfully terminate the life of a baby in the womb at any time during a pregnancy right up to the last second before birth.

Do most Canadians support this total lack of legal protection for the life of the unborn? Evidently not. Only 28 per cent in the Leger poll said the law should protect human life only after birth. The great majority -- 63 per cent -- agreed the unborn deserve legal protection after six months of pregnancy, if not sooner.

On Nov. 5, U.S. President George W. Bush signed into law the Partial-birth Abortion Ban Act of 2003. Pro-life members of the Parliament of Canada should press for the adoption of a similar law, confident that it would command the support of a solid majority of Canadians.

On the provincial level, pro-life politicians might well focus on the funding issue. According to the Leger poll, only 25 per cent of Canadians uphold the funding of all abortions through the tax-funded health system.

Fully 53 per cent held that "an abortion should be financed using tax dollars but only in medical emergencies, such as a threat to the mother's life or in case of rape or incest."

In the Leger poll, respondents were told: "Some states in the U.S. have informed consent laws concerning abortion. These laws require that, before a woman has an abortion procedure, her physician must provide her with certain information such as details on the stages of fetal development, including an ultrasound scan, possible complications and side effects following an abortion, and alternatives to abortion. Would you support similar laws in Canada for women considering abortion?"

The great majority -- 69 per cent -- answered "Yes." Yet no province in Canada has an informed consent law on abortion. Why is that? Why should abortion be the only medical procedure that a physician can legally perform without obtaining fully informed consent?

Clearly, Canadians are not likely to arrive at a consensus on the abortion issue any time soon. Surely, though, it's not too much to expect that our politicians should start enacting those partial measures that the great majority of Canadians desire to safeguard the lives of the unborn.