A couple months ago a private member's bill was introduced in Parliament, proposing that Parliament debate and decide the point at which a foetus becomes a human being. There was considerable outrage and accusations that Conservatives were revealing their hidden agenda. The usual rhetoric came out: "it's my body" and "it's my choice," and the proposal was quickly quashed. No debate.
This is a good answer to a thorny issue! The Government has no mandate to impose laws on what are essentially moral questions. In Canada its mandate is to preserve peace, order and good Government (administration). People decide moral questions, and laws preserve the society.
However, an interesting question has been raised: sometime between ovulation and birth, a mystical transformation happens, where a blob of the mother's flesh becomes an independent human being, with his or her own rights. We find the killing of a baby after live birth to be revolting; we call it infanticide and it is illegal. At the other end, few people find any fault with using birth control to suppress ovulation. What is happening here?
The answer must lie in the privileges, powers, rights and responsibilities of women. A woman certainly has the power to become pregnant, to create a new person; and by law she has the right to decide when and how she will do so. But she also has the responsibility to make a coherent moral decision about when she will transfer some of her rights to her child. The law insists that she do so at birth; and I believe most pregnant women make the transfer well before that.
The privilege and duty to make this decision lays with the mother, a consequence of her biological inheritance. It is too important, too contentious and too private a decision to trust to the Government. But it should be taken seriously by every woman!
