PoliticsCanada: Abort: support pregnant woman by father of child, her family and society

The Primate of Canada's Roman Catholic Church, Cardinal Marc Ouellet, Archbishop of Quebec, called fire down on his head by sharply contrasting govt's funding of abortion clinics, while not funding agencies for care of women ambiguous regarding their pregnancies and the prospect of childbirth. The fire descended two weeks ago, when the Primate welcomed the Prime Minister Stephen Harper in regard to a then-recent move. Ouellet praised Harper for cancellation of the govt's "funding abortions in the developing world." But Harper did not acknowledge a symmetry of attitudes (a govt can always claim that a particular cancellation of funding is exclusively a budgetary consideration).

Be that as it may, today the Cardinal made additional comment: "Governments are funding clinics for abortion," said Marc Cardinal Ouellet, according to Canadian News via Evri (May 26,2k10).

"I would like equity for organi[zations] that are defending also life."

On Wednesday, Ouellet urged the federal government to take concrete actions at home, such as supporting women who decide to keep their child.

"If they do not want to fund abortion abroad and they do not bring at home more help to women to keep their child, I think they are incoherent," he said.

Ouellet said the ultimate responsibility for deciding to have an abortion is a matter of personal conscience.

He insisted he is not judging women who have abortions and said he would help them afterward.

"If we have equity in funding those instances to help women I think we would make lots of progress in Canada.

The Quebec govt quickly moved to oppose the French-speaking prelate, not least of all because he advocates for completing pregnancy to birth even in cases of rape. For that single deliberated remark perhaps, the pastoral Ouellet had to pay dearly. Not only Quebec's political establishment (Liberal Party) flamed the Roman Catholic leader, but so did the wide range of Quebec editorialists, pundits, and intellectuals. They put the nonplussed Ouellet in Quebec's political Hot Seat. He wants a renewed debate on abortion and care for stranded women who do not choose to abort, even were they to give the newborn to adoption. That procedure shoud be a civil r+t, with at least equal standing to a woman's freedom to choose death for her unborn baby (oops!, unwanted fetus).

-- Politicarp