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(The Supreme Court case was in Mississippi)
Needless to say, it’s not politically correct, while I’m up here in Canada, to comment on US abortion down there. As you know, yesterday, by appealing to the US Constitution, abortion was “returned to the (individual) states.” Up here, the most I might do is parrot Barak Obama’s mentor saying that ““States rights” has been the Trojan horse of tory reaction,” as when a state such as Mississippi votes against having any anti-lynching law. (footnote),
What I can say is that the last time a conservative party prime minister, Stephen Harper, had a majority government, he did not refer to the constitution when he ordered his ministers not to propose any legislation about abortion. Something about “not opening that can of worms.” Given that Harper attended university here in the bible belt, and his wife is from a small town here, (Turner Valley) I can guess where his sympathy lies: He is more likely to believe God sends the soul at conception than otherwise, but still, I respect him for putting common sense over the constitution.
Legislation is advanced by man, not God. It was during my own lifetime that we decriminalized birth control; we were surely among the last provinces to do so. (Canada has ten provinces)
Here in the bible belt you may call us conservative, but still, our age in Alberta for the adult right of drinking alcohol is only 18, not 19 as in Toronto, Ontario. (Note: the federal voting age is 18) Now, you could argue that if raising the drinking age “saves just one life (on the road) then it’s worth it,” but I can remember our provincial premier (think state governor) musing that it is easier (more appropriate) to grant a right than to take it away.
And that’s all I have to say on such a US matter.
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Sean Crawford
North of the 49th parallel,
June 25, 2022
Our U.S. cousins, after talk by John and Robert Kennedy, finally passed their long-awaited federal anti-lynching law during the administration of a president named Joe.
Amused: Not being in the US, it’s perfectly OK for me to keep my sense of humour on abortion: One day Barak Obama’s mentor, a Jew, was in the office of his friend, a catholic bishop, when he said to the bishop, “I can prove you believe in abortion” and he opened the door to show some idiot priests in the waiting room. The bishop spoke through his laughter, “That’s not a fair argument.”
A thought: As you know, comedians risk being canceled. Me too. So without endorsing that Monty Python movie where they sing, “every sperm is sacred” (on Youtube) I will say the Bible notes we live to be seventy, (“The years of a man are threescore and ten”) which means the average age is 35. So why anyone says spermicide or a condom kills a baby and not a 35 year old is beyond me. Some folks just have no ability for abstract thought.
Incident, when my Canadian university had a weekly Speakers Corner, and the topic was “abortion.” This was in the mid 1980’s when US style long hair was beginning to die out, but students still had an “excessive” belief in freedom:
Wearing a blue blazer and grey flannel pants, with very short hair, I stood on the stump holding up my children’s NIV (New International Version) Bible. (Yellow cover, Jesus with a lamb) I proclaimed something like, “Here at university we are taught to document and footnote. You may wonder why compassionate social workers, and idealistic nurses, are for body freedom, but not us Christians… My friends, it is documented here in the Bible!…” And just when the students were frowning, truly worried that I would start quoting I added, “You may look it up,” and jumped down.
“That was cute, Sean” someone told me.
