OTTAWA – The Saskatoon StarPhoenix (Abortion cut-off date criticized as too early, Nov. 13, 2009) reported this week that, in the view of some people, there weren’t enough Saskatoon doctors performing abortions. Objections have also been raised to the Saskatoon cut-off date of the 12th week of pregnancy for performing abortions as unnecessarily premature.

 

Evelyn Reisner, executive director of Saskatoon Planned Parenthood (now called “Sexual Health Centre Saskatoon”), even claimed, according to the paper, that this situation “increases the risks to [pregnant women’s] health, causing a ‘higher rate of infections, complications and deaths’.”

“On the contrary,” said Saskatoon-Wanuskewin MP Maurice Vellacott, “a growing body of research reveals significant health problems caused by abortion, including a greater risk of breast cancer, cervical lacerations and injury, uterine perforations, hemorrhage, and serious infection. Long-term physical consequences of abortion include sterility or subsequent ectopic pregnancies and premature births. Premature births are associated with higher rates of cerebral palsy, as well as respiratory, brain, and bowel abnormalities. “Post-abortive women are speaking about the devastating emotional, physical and psychological effects abortion had on their lives,” noted Vellacott.

“The growing demand for fully informed consent by women and the revelations from modern ultrasound technology are leading more and more women to reject abortion and are discouraging a greater number of doctors from providing abortions,” Vellacott added.

The current abortion regime is also conducive to abuse. Aborted women tell stories of being badgered, harassed and coerced into getting their abortion by boyfriends, partners, parents, employers, or other unsupportive circumstances. Abortion has also been used to cover up the sexual abuse of girls who were minors. Pro-life feminists have also come to see abortion as part of a male agenda to have women more sexually available. With widespread abortion access, the male partner also has come to think that he can blame the woman if she chooses not to have an abortion after an unplanned pregnancy.

“The bottom line is that the decline in the availability of abortion services is directly linked to a growing commitment to the medical evidence of what abortion does and how abortion negatively impacts the lives of women. Saskatoon’s doctors should be commended for the leadership they are showing by reducing the availability of abortion in our city and for supporting real alternatives for women in need,” said Vellacott.

The late Dr. Bernard Nathanson, once America’s most prominent abortionist, after becoming pro-life, admitted that he and others fabricated their huge figures of 5,000-10,000 “back alley” abortions per year and kept repeating these fabricated numbers until the media unquestioningly reported them. Ms. Reisner is being disingenuous – at best – when she claims that the limited access to abortion in Saskatoon will lead to a “higher rate of infections, complications and deaths.”

Vellacott said, “The intelligent women of today are owed a full and complete disclosure of information on the life changing abortion effects and long-term harms. Women are done a great disservice and are not treated with equality when there is not a fully informed consent.”

“When women look beyond those pushing abortion, they discover that there are more services available today to women facing crisis pregnancies, so that they don’t have to feel trapped into killing their unborn child. We need to provide the compassionate, caring support for women and their pre-born children at such a vulnerable time, so that someday, abortion is a very rare thing in our country,” added Vellacott.

“As a compassionate, caring, progressive society, we should provide the kind of support and options for the expectant mother, so that she doesn’t feel her only choice is to choose death for her offspring. To put women in that kind of position is not the hallmark of a caring, compassionate, progressive society. That’s providing ‘no choice.’ We should be doing so much more for women in this regard so they don’t feel backed into a corner and coerced. As a caring, compassionate, progressive society, we should provide the kind of supports so that they have real choice, so they can do the instinctive thing – so they can choose life,” concluded Vellacott.

 

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