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Politics : GOPwinger Lies/Distortions/Omissions/Perversions of Truth -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Srexley who wrote (39403)	3/17/2005 6:01:23 PM
From: fresc	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 173976

Actually you are right, RED! Most abortions in Canada(90%) are performed in first trimester. Third trimester Abortions get directed to America :) Better go find those Devil Doctors and put an end to them with your trusty pistol... Canada is one of only a few countries in the world with no laws limiting abortion. While some non-legal obstacles exist, abortion access in Canada is among the freest in the world. Polls continue to show that a large majority of Canadians believe abortion should remain legal. For example, in a poll conducted by the National Post in November 2002, 78 per cent of respondents answered "yes" to the question "Should women have complete freedom on their decision to have an abortion?" About 100,000 abortions are performed in Canada every year. Approximately 90 per cent of abortions are performed in the first trimester, with just 2 to 3 per cent performed after 16 weeks. Legality The Canadian courts have determined that a fetus has no inherent right to life in Canadian law, and no legal protection as a person until born alive. Additionally, the woman and her fetus are considered one and the same under the law, which puts the woman's interests first. One of the important cases that led to this was the case of Chantale Daigle, the most widely publicized case concerning abortion in Canada after the law regarding abortions was thrown out by the Supreme Court of Canada. It went before the Supreme Court of Canada in 1989. Chantale Daigle's ex-boyfriend obtained a restraining order against her having an abortion. While the restraining order was issued in Quebec it would be legally restricting Canada wide. The case came before the Supreme Court of Canada which ruled that only the women could make the choice; the father had no legal say in a woman's choice to terminate a pregnancy or carry it to completion. In an interesting side note, Chantale Daigle had already had a late second term abortion before the ruling of the Court. While the case was fast-tracked, the progress was so slow that a third-trimester abortion would have been required had Ms Daigle waited for the ruling to be handed down. The fact that Daigle had an abortion, in the United States, while the case was before the Supreme Court of Canada was not made public until after the ruling, although it was not totally unexpected. This is an interesting contrast to the Roe vs. Wade case in the United States where Roe was forced to carry the baby to term, however that was a case about whether an abortion was legal, and therefore different from the Daigle case which stemmed from if a male partner has an equal say in if a woman obtains an abortion. There have been several cases since then all of which have led to the conclusions that the court gave written above. Access Abortions in Canada are provided on demand and available free of charge (as with all medical procedures) in hospitals across the county. Abortion funding for hospitals comes directly from the federal government, and the 1/3 of hospitals which provide them currently perform 2/3 of abortions in the country, the rest being performed by public and private clinics. It should be noted that hospital abortions are provided only under a general anaesthesia which carries some risk in and of itself, while abortions that are performed in clinics are done with a local anaesthesia which carries a lower health risk. Chemical abortion is not a method of abortion generally available in Canada. Clinical trials of chemical abortions are currently happening in Vancouver, Toronto, Montreal and Sherbrooke. While the debate about making the drugs for chemical abortions available in the country occurs from time to time it is not clear that the country will soon allow a drug that performs a chemical abortion. While RU-486 is now available in 60 American abortion clinics, importation of the drug to Canada is illegal. Obstacles to access While the provinces are additionally required by the federal government to fully fund abortion clinics, Quebec and Nova Scotia provide only limited funding, while New Brunswick and Manitoba provide no funding for clinics. Access in rural and northern areas, and especially in the maritime provinces of New Brunswick, Nova Scotia, and Prince Edward Island, is often restricted by the lack of nearby facilities, requiring women to travel long distances (often at their own expense) to obtain an abortion. Some maritime hospitals refuse to perform abortions on out-of-province patients, in contravention of the portability requirement of the Canada Health Act. This can be especially troublesome for women in PEI, where no facilities currently perform abortions. Additionally, as with all surgical procedures, a doctor's referral is required, which may be difficult to obtain in conservative areas. It has also been noted that the number of Canadian medical schools that give instruction in abortion procedures is decreasing, which could potentially create a shortfall in medical personnel skilled in this area. Dr. Henry Morgentaler currently operates clinics in Edmonton, Winnipeg, Ottawa, Toronto, Montreal, Fredericton, Halifax and St. John's Newfoundland. However not all the provinces in which these clinics are will cover the partial or full cost of the abortion. While these are the best known clinics in Canada there are many other clinics. Finally there is difficulty with accessing third-term abortions. In Quebec there is currently no doctor that will perform a third-term abortion unless the health of the mother is in great peril or there is a genetic problem. Currently Quebec sends women who seek to have third-term abortions performed to the United States. As Quebec is often more liberal in this area and would usually send someone to another province it is likely that getting third-term abortions is difficult country wide. Statistics have shown that it is most often the underpriviledged in Quebec who seek third-term abortions. While Quebec is currently actively looking to hire a doctor to do third-term abortions they have not hired anyone yet (October 2004)