Brad said the “A” word

The reaction to comments by Saskatchewan MP Brad Trost about the funding of Planned Parenthood reminds me of third grade children who squeal with delight after a vulgar word is uttered. The mainstream media is shouting it from the roof tops: “Brad said the A-word, Brad said the A-word!” And school principal Stephen Harper called an urgent press conference to remind us all again that the A-word will never be mentioned as long as he is in charge.

Why is it that the media cannot contain themselves when abortion is mentioned? Every other country in the Western world has been able to have a civil discussion about abortion and has enacted legislation of one kind or another. Canada is the only place that hasn’t been able to. Is this because Canadians want to keep the status-quo in which an abortion can be had up until birth? Far from it. Polls consistently show a strong majority (over 60%) of Canadians want to see some abortion legislation.

Brad Trost’s comments against publicly funding pro-abortion activist organizations isn’t news. Way back in March of 2010 Canada’s House of Commons voted down a Liberal motion to demand that maternal health dollars be used to promote abortion overseas, including in countries that didn’t want abortion. It was defeated, to Ignatieff’s embarrassment, because even some Liberals voted against it. That was big news. But that was then.

Neither is it news that there are those among us, politicians included, who have a problem with 18 million taxpayer dollars going to fund Planned Parenthood – a group that was founded by Margaret Sanger who promoted eugenics to “to create a race of thoroughbreds” and stated “We do not want word to go out that we want to exterminate the Negro population.”

Now the mainstream media is trying to spin Trost’s comments as an example of pro-life influence on the Conservative Party. Wake up! Stephen Harper voted against and openly condemned the only private member’s bill in the last session that mentioned abortion, even though that bill simply aimed to protect pregnant women from violent coercion. The pro-life movement in Canada has been given nothing but the cold shoulder from Stephen Harper.

Why are Canada’s party leaders so fearful of an open and civil discussion about abortion? To be blunt, they don’t have a backbone to stand up to the media who will instantly chastise them the same way they are lambasting Brad Trost. They are being followers rather than leaders. And why do the media continue to treat abortion like a vulgar word? Reflect back to the days when your entire Grade Six class rallied around a few loud-mouth kids with muscles that matched their attitudes. We may have grown older now, but are we that different?

Canadians want to see election campaigns with substance. We can move in that direction by standing behind the brave candidates who dare talk about issues like abortion. Send them a note of encouragement to press on. Consider taking it a step further by volunteering in their campaign. At the same time we have to challenge the candidates, party leaders, and media who resort to childish name-calling and bullying. Write letters to the editor persistently. Make a phone call to the candidate’s office and let them know that you and many more Canadians are looking for leaders, not followers. More importantly, lets be proactive by supporting alternative media outlets and organizations that have the guts to challenge the status-quo.

Brad said the “A” word. Hopefully many more candidates will do so before this campaign is done.