DATE: 2005.03.20

EDITION: Final

SECTION: Opinion

PAGE: A14

SOURCE: Calgary Herald

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Medical advances alter the debate: Full-term abortion on demand at odds with many jurisdictions

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Saturday's debate and vote on the Conservative party floor on the issue of abortion won't end the acrimony in either the party of a divided nation. But purist pro-choicers and the other parties -- who also have pro-lifers in their midst -- should remember that Canada's position on abortion is out of step with even more socially liberal countries in Europe.

While restrictions on abortion vary, France, Germany, Belgium, Greece and Hungary limit abortion on demand to

12 weeks; Sweden and Norway to 18 weeks; and Great Britain's cutoff date is 24 weeks. Other European countries range from virtual prohibition (Poland) to virtually no limit (the Czech Republic). But most have some limit. And even in those with later restrictions, the UK for example, there is debate on moving it to earlier stages in gestation.

In Britain, Conservative Leader Michael Howard wants abortion on demand restricted to the first 20 weeks. While British Prime Minister Tony Blair objects to his political opponent's proposal, he does not object to the 24-week limit. The reasoning on both cases is that ever more fetuses can survive outside of the womb at earlier stages in a pregnancy because of advances in medical technology. (In one widely noted case in November 2002, British baby Heather Pope was born prematurely at 23 weeks of gestation, and survived.)

Thus, it is becoming more difficult to square how, on one hand, medical professionals can go to great efforts to nurture premature babies and yet physicians, in some cases literally down the hall, terminate fetuses older than that.

Advances in prenatal surgery further complicate the discussion.

In August 1999, a 21-week old fetus survived experimental surgery at Vanderbilt University hospital in Nashville, Tenn. Dr. Joseph Bruner cut into the mother's abdomen, lifted the uterus out of her body, made an incision in the uterus, removed the fetus, repaired the spinal defect, and reinserted him back inside his mother's body.

Fifteen weeks later, Samuel Armas was born. Are the politicians in our land so sure that majority opinion is comfortable with abortions at that same stage?

While it would satisfy neither the polarized pro-choice or pro-life camps, the European position of imposing a time limit is the compromise that seems closest to majority Canadian values.

Those who claim that the vast majority of Canadians support terminated pregnancies -- in law -- up until the natural end of a pregnancy overplay their hand. A 2001 Gallup poll probed views with uncommon clarity. It asked: "Do you think abortions should be legal under any circumstances, legal under certain circumstances or illegal in all circumstances and in what circumstances?"

A minority -- 32 per cent -- said abortion should be legal in all circumstances. A minority -- 14 per cent -- said abortion should be illegal in all circumstances. A slim majority, 52 per cent, said abortion should be legal only in certain circumstances. In other words, almost two-thirds of Canadians do not think abortion should be legal for all nine months of a pregnancy.

And to nervous Canadian politicians who resist such public discussion, it is worth noting the British Conservatives and Howard have not suffered in polls for having pushed the issue. Even the British law which restricts abortion at 24 weeks was not the original limit; the 1967 law was updated in 1990 from 28 weeks to reflect advances in medicine and the ability of ever-earlier premature babies to survive.

For Canadians, the 1988 Supreme Court ruling which struck down abortion legislation was not a decision to give women a constitutional right to terminate their pregnancy at all stages. Such de facto legal freedom exists only because the unelected Senate was unwilling to pass a compromise. A draft 1990 law that would have made abortions legal only until week 20 of a pregnancy passed Parliament by a vote of 140-131, but died by one vote in the Senate.

Given that technology allows premature babies to survive much earlier than they could in 1973 or 1988, Parliament's 1990 law seems more sensible than ever.

It is also likely the one that most reflects the majority Canadian view and would put us in step with most of Europe.

Limits on abortion on demand

Selected comparisons

Britain 24 weeks

France 12 weeks

Germany 12 weeks

Belgium 12 weeks

Denmark 12 weeks

Sweden 18 weeks

Norway 18 weeks

Italy 13 weeks

Greece 12 weeks

Hungary 12 weeks

Canada No limit