A pro-life wish for 2013

(This letter to Mr. Harper is posted with permission from the author)

21 December 2012

Honourable Mr. Stephen Harper, Prime Minister of Canada,

Mr. Harper, I am writing to you after watching a preview of your Christmas interview with The Global Television Network. In the interview, you said that in the future Canada will not face an unemployment problem, but a labour shortage and that bringing others into Canada to fill the labour shortage is only a band aid solution to the problem. You also said we need to train Canadians for positions that need to be filled now and into the future; engineering was cited as a profession where we will need people.

When watching the clips of your interview, my mind wandered back one week to December 14th when I watched President Obama publicly mourn the loss of twenty little children. According to him, the children had their whole lives ahead of them. Mr. Obama passionately talked about children who should have had graduations to attend, jobs to go to, that they would likely be married and have families of their own; but tragically, all this was taken away from them by a senseless and deliberate act of violence. Mr. Obama also stated that the children were destroyed in what should have been the safest place on earth, their school. In reality, the safest place on earth for children is their first home, their mothers’ womb.

Mr. Harper, each year in Canada we destroy more than 100,000 children and we do it in the wombs of their mothers, supposedly the safest place on earth for these children. We destroy the lives of these children in the same way that Mr. Obama described the massacre of the twenty children in Newtown, Connecticut, by senseless and deliberate acts of violence. Mr. Harper, these children have their lives taken from them before they even have an opportunity to go to school, or to graduate or to marry and have families. It is very conceivable that hundreds of engineers, teachers, doctors, or even a future Prime Minister of Canada have been/are destroyed by the violence of the abortionists’ curettes, their suction apparatus, and their scissors or by life destroying intra cardiac injections of Potassium Chloride.

Mr. Harper, I believe most Canadians would agree with you that we need more of us, so that our future in Canada is secure. I also believe you understand that children who have their lives taken from them by abortion are the future labourers and engineers that you speak about in the interview. Mr. Harper, the senseless killing of twenty innocent and defenceless school children in Newtown is only different from the children killed at the hands of abortionists by two things, their ages and where they were/are living when their lives were/are taken from them. As you can tell, I am finding it difficult to make my verbs agree at this point because although the deaths of the twenty school children in Newtown is past, this is not so for the children who are killed by abortion. Yes, Mr. Harper just in the past week thousands more innocent and defenceless children have lost their lives; but their deaths go unnoticed by the media, by their president and by their Prime Minister.

Please, Mr. Harper won’t you reconsider your “I will not open the abortion debate” for the sake of all Canadians and for the sake of our country. Please, Mr. Harper listen to the majority of Canadians (Environics poll commissioned by LifeCanada Sept 2011) who want restrictions placed on abortion. Please, Mr. Harper open your heart at this blessed Christmas time when Christians understand that all human life is sacred and needs to be protected.

With Respect,
Jennifer Snell

A cheat sheet for letter's editors to keep readers

By far the best newspaper letter's page in the country, is the one headed up by Paul Russell at the National Post.

Today Mr. Russell publishes his cheat sheet for having your letter to the editor published. This is a comprehensive "writing letters" primer that will help anyone get their letter published.

Mr. Russell always publishes letters on both sides of any debate, including the abortion debate. The other national newspaper (and this may have changed since I stopped either subscribing to, or reading that other newspaper, but I doubt it) barely ever ran any pro-life letters, mine included. So I have no idea where Mr. Russell stands on the abortion debate. In my opinion that is as it should be. His bias whatever it is, doesn't seep into what he is willing to publish or not publish.

And since we can't have the abortion debate in Parliament because of Mr. Harper's national ban on abortion free speech, well all I can say is, thank God for the National Post.

Mr. Russell also regularly invites readers to submit 75 words on various subjects. He actually wants to know what people think. Imagine that.

Other newspapers could learn a thing or two by reading the Post's letters page. Not that they will. But they could. If you know what I mean.

My mother always told me to give credit where credit was due. Thank you Paul Russell.

Christmas in Harlem

Catherine Doherty's Christmas in Harlem from her book Donkey Bells.

Read by Fr. Jerry at Annunciation of the Lord Parish, Ottawa.

Thanks to Maureen Ward.

Merry Christmas to all!

A Christmas Poem

by Barbara McAdorey

'Twas the week before Christmas and all through the town
Traffic congested the streets up and down.
Shopping mall parking spots soon became rare
From too many shoppers; that made tempers flare.
Joy to the World at this time is forgot
As you curse at the driver who took the last spot.

The kid now starts screaming he wants this new toy
Your stress levels rise in this season of joy.
But what's one more toy when you're out on a binge
So you pull out your card and you try not to cringe.

Then there's more gifts to buy for Heaven knows who
Is this gift ok? Did they buy for me too?
Still more things to buy and cards to send out
But then panic and debt's what this season's about.

'Twas the night before Christmas, not much more you could do
Thankful there was just one more day to get through.

'Twas the night after Christmas in Heaven above
The Devil was speaking to God about love:
You have to admit that my plan is quite fine
You don't see much love in the world at this time.
They talk about Peace, Love, Hope and Joy
But their actions sure show they don't care for Your Boy.
Christmas is becoming what I want it to be
Causing those humans such anxiety.
Sure there's some fun with the candies and toys
But that is short lived for most girls and boys.
The true things that last as You, God, best know
Are no longer valued on Earth down below.
And talking of Christ has become incorrect
I've made them all feel that it shows disrespect
For others who may not worship your Son,
You must admit with this scheme I have won!
And I laugh at these humans, for my trick they all fall
For your Son is why Christmas existed at all!
If these things continue, my work's almost done
In another few years, they'll have forgotten Your Son!
When that great day comes, Your humans will buy,
Buy more and more, and not even know why!
So their stress will increase and they'll try all the more
To find some of that joy they gave up years before!

God spoke not a word and as calm as could be
He pointed to Earth for the Devil to see.
The boy with the gizmo was bored now, it's true
But the boy had a plan of what he should do.
He went to the house of a neighbourhood boy
Who was poor, had no friends, he was bringing the toy!
And he didn't just go there to give it away
He gave him the toy and he stayed there to play!

And the Devil stopped laughing, thought, Maybe I'm wrong,
Perhaps they were good deep down all along,
Maybe there is some love left, what a fright!
Well, there's always next year. I'm exhausted. Good night!
Copyright © 1998 by Barbara McAdorey

Barbara McAdorey is the author of the children's storybook, Icicles to Miracles.
This poem was first published in the December 1999 issue of Our Family magazine.

Picture from original painting by Paula E. Maloney
From the children's storybook, Icicles to Miracles

Our lady of Guadalupe

Pro-life Mass, Notre Dame Cathedral, Ottawa, Saturday December 15, 2012

Isabelle O'Connor sings "Hymne a Notre Dame de Guadalupe".

Video, courtesy Maureen Ward.

Thank you Mary, Isabelle and Maureen!

 

Dear Mr. Hudak, remember me?

Dear Mr. Hudak,

I wanted to write you again, and give you an update on the McGuinty government's stealth attack on Freedom of Information (FOI) in Ontario.

You never responded to my last letter on this issue. Neither did your health critic Christine Elliott. In fact, I also sent letters to three of your other MPPs regarding this horrid situation, Mr. Randy Hillier, Mr. John O'Toole and Mr. Rick Nicholls. By snail mail no less. None of them responded to me either. Funny that.

If one was a conspiracy theorist, one might even wonder if someone told them to keep quiet on this (apparently) touchy topic.

In any event, since you and your Conservatives did nothing to stop this fiasco, I thought I'd find out for myself what went on, when all of this occurred.

So I sent in another FOI to the Ministry of Health and asked for this:
"copies of any and all information (i.e. briefing notes, talking points, reports, emails, letters, and any other documents) relating to this recent abortion exclusion clause in Bill 122, An Act to increase the financial accountability of organizations in the broader public sector. Specifically, referring to this clause 65 (5.7): "This Act does not apply to records relating to the provision of abortion services. 2010, c. 25, s. 24 (17).". As well, I would like to see any and all information (i.e. briefing notes, talking points, reports, emails, letters, and any other documents) that may not specifically refer to the above clause, but that does refer to "abortion" or "abortion services" and that resulted in this eventual exclusion clause which came into effect on January 1, 2012."

What do you think I got back? Not much (see below). Why? Because of these reasons:
• Section 12 (Cabinet Records), some of the records would reveal the substance of cabinet's deliberations or contain draft legislation.
• s. 19 (a)(b) (Solicitor-Client Privilege), all records contain Solicitor-Client Privilege.
• Section 13 (1) (Advice to Government), some records contain recommendations.
• Non-Responsive to request, the records contain information about issues other than the abortion exclusion.

I have a suggestion for you. Maybe you could do something about this. Maybe when you try and get elected next time, maybe you could follow the Information and Privacy Commissioner of Ontario's philosophy regarding Access to Information:
"Access to information is a fundamental and necessary democratic right.

The values underlying freedom of information (FOI) laws, regardless of their jurisdiction, are quite simple — open, transparent, accountable and citizen-driven government. Stated simply, FOI legislation is based on a presumption that information should be widely available and accessible to the public. Governments throughout the world have recognized that citizens of a democratic state have the right to know what their government is doing, and to hold it responsible for its actions and inactions. Accordingly these rights have been enshrined in legislation providing for, and protecting, public access to government-held information."

And Mr. Hudak, you could:

a) reverse this secret abortion exclusion clause and restore our "right" to participate in the democratic process, and

b) ensure that our right to access information is granted all citizens of Ontario.

You never know. A little "openness, transparency and accountability" goes a long way. It might even get you elected.

Sincerely,
Patricia Maloney

National Post shows fetuses in newspaper

This article in Saturday's National Post about Canada's abortion stats elicited these letters today.

Warning to readers: graphic content of fetuses.

Update: Live birth abortions on the rise in Canada; also some abortions reported as stillbirths

Statistics Canada

Stillbirth statistics from Statistics Canada (SC) are shown in Table 1 below. The stats refer to babies of at least 500 grams or at least 20 weeks gestation. (1)

Stillbirth statistics published on-line CANSIM table 102-4514 do not separate natural stillbirths from abortion stillbirths, so I asked SC to separate them out for me. I asked for years 2000 to 2010 (11 years). I compiled their four pages of statistics into the one table you see below, Table 1.

As Table 1 shows, there were 4,624 stillbirths of 20 weeks or more due to abortion (code P96.4, termination of pregnancy) from 2000 to 2010. Of these, there were 279 abortions 28 weeks or more (code P96.4, termination of pregnancy).

Note that all stillbirths > 28 weeks gestation, are included in the > 20 weeks gestation totals.

I have already reported on SC live birth abortions here.

CIHI

Stillbirth and livebirth abortion statistics from CIHI are shown in Table 2 below. This data was for fiscal year 2010/2011 (For one year only. Also note that their on-line annual published tables are produced by calendar year and not fiscal year.)

This is what CIHI told me in an email on November 1, 2012, when I asked why the data they gave me for stillbirths had no gestational age, whereas their regular published data here, had gestational ages for abortions:
"The gestational age is found on the mother’s termination of pregnancy abstract, which is why we were able to provide gestational age in our published tables. However, the gestational age is not on the stillborn abstract, and there is no way to link the mother and stillborn abstracts, so we are not able to provide the gestational age for stillborns."

There were 727 stillbirth abortions reported by CIHI for that one year 2010/2011. SC reported that there was an average of 420 per year (4624/11 years for 2000-2010). That is a big difference. So I asked SC to explain the discrepancy between their data and CIHI's data. Their complete explanation is below.

Note that CIHI's stillbirth data does not include any stillbirths for Quebec, while SC data does include Quebec stillbirths.

Regarding live birth abortions: I believe it is possible that the live birth abortions reported by SC/CIHI may be over and above CIHI's annual published abortions because of what SC told me here:
"On the very rare occasion when an induced abortion might result in a live birth (and possibly subsequent death) these cases may or may not be included in the Therapeutic Abortion Database. The Canadian Institute for Health Information, however, instructs hospital coders to identify a birth rather than an abortion in this situation, thus such cases would not be counted in the Therapeutic Abortion Database. It is unknown whether private clinics would still report an abortion if the outcome of the abortion procedure was a live birth."
(This paragraph forms part of the reply I received from SC, the full text appears below.)

From Table 2, you will notice that the number of live birth abortions from CIHI was 157 for 2010/2011. But that number includes: 38 abortions less than 20 weeks, 9 abortions 25-28 weeks and < 5 for 29+ weeks (2). So in order to compare to the SC numbers, we need to look at just the known live birth abortions > 20 weeks. That number is 119 live birth abortions in one year. SC is reporting 491 over 11 years (52 in 2000, 29 in 2001, 21 in 2002, 43 in 2003, 44 in 2004, 52 in 2005, 49 in 2006, 71 in 2007, 63 in 2008, and 67 in 2009).

As you can see, the 119 live birth abortions reported by CIHI for the year 2010/2011 is much higher than any of these previous reported years from SC.

Regarding stillbirth abortions:

Notice this from SC and the part underlined in particular:
"As mentioned above, a termination of pregnancy resulting in the death of a fetus that meets the gestational age and/or weight defined as a stillbirth will be registered. However, retrieving all such events based on the underlying cause of stillbirth variable is not possible. The cause of stillbirth will not be classified as due to the termination of pregnancy (ICD-10 code P96.4) unless there is sufficient information to make this conclusion. The calibre of the certification of the medical cause of stillbirth certificate is such that often what is likely a stillbirth due to a termination of pregnancy, is classified to some other underlying cause."
(This paragraph forms part of the reply I received from SC, the full text appears below.)

I interpret this to mean that some unknown number of stillbirths reported as "other underlying cause" could, and probably are, late term abortions (or code P96.4, termination of pregnancy). Recall that there are many abortions reported by CIHI that are of unknown gestational ages, see here and here.

The question we can't answer is, how many of these stillbirths with “other underlying cause” are in fact late term abortions?

Another question we can’t answer: are the 727 abortion stillbirths reported by CIHI over and above the annual abortion stats that CIHI reports, or are they included in those counts? Even CIHI does not know the answer. This is what CIHI told me in an October 22, 2012 email:
"since CIHI’s abortion tables count terminations of pregnancy, technically this means that terminations of pregnancy that result in a stillbirth may also end up being included in the counts. However, this cannot be confirmed as there is no way to link the stillbirth abstracts with the mothers’ terminations of pregnancy abstracts that were included in CIHI’s abortion tables.”

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Below is the full text of the response I received from SC in an email dated November 20, 2012 regarding the discrepancy between the data between CIHI and SC.

You may interpret it differently than I did.

"It is normal that the vital stats would be lower for various reasons. 1) The TA numbers up to 2003 include Quebec data. 2) Although an induced abortion was performed, the “underlying cause of death” may not have been certified/coded as a termination of pregnancy. 3) Reporting stillbirths resulting from a termination of pregnancy has not been done consistently over the period of observation.

I have been asked to address the questions you raised in regard to the scope and coverage of the Therapeutic Abortion Database.

The Therapeutic Abortion Database contains information on induced abortions performed in hospitals and clinics in Canada. The database also includes counts from some American states of abortions performed on Canadian residents. The database includes all reported induced abortions, regardless of the gestational age. In other words, the database does include induced abortions performed at 20 weeks gestation or more.

The level of information on gestation period varies within the database, however. Some induced abortions are reported simply as total counts, while other data sources provide detailed records including date of last menses or reported gestational age. In the 2000 data year, there were 105,669 reported induced abortions. Of this number there were 58,167 cases with no gestational information.

It is possible that an induced abortion event can be included in the Therapeutic Abortion Database as well as in the Vital Statistics Stillbirths database (or even very rarely the Vital Statistics Birth and Death databases.) The following paragraphs describe the definition and registration of stillbirths, especially those resulting from termination of pregnancy.

Statistics Canada's statistics on stillbirths are obtained from an administrative survey that collects demographic information annually from all provincial and territorial vital statistics registries on all stillbirths (late fetal deaths) in Canada. Some data are also collected on stillbirths to Canadian resident women in selected American states.

Stillbirth is currently defined as the complete expulsion or extraction from its mother of a product of conception, which did not at any time after birth breathe or show other sign of life. Any product of conception that does not show signs of life and meets the reporting requirements, must be registered as a stillbirth under provincial and territorial vital statistics acts. In 2001, most provinces and all three territories required a stillbirth with a gestational age of at least 20 weeks or a birth weight of at least 500 grams to be registered. In Quebec and Saskatchewan (and New Brunswick prior to November 1996), only stillbirths weighing at least 500 grams were required to be registered, regardless of the gestational age. Until 1997, a gestational age of at least 20 weeks was required for stillbirths to be registered in Prince Edward Island, regardless of the birth weight.

In all provinces and territories except for New Brunswick, a fetal death that results from an intentional termination of the pregnancy would be registered as a stillbirth if the fetus met the definition in terms of its gestational age and/or birth weight. New Brunswick does not register fetal deaths that result from intentional termination of the pregnancy as stillbirths even if the fetus would otherwise meet the definition for a stillbirth. Statistics Canada compiles stillbirth statistics on all registered stillbirths for which data are received from the provincial and territorial vital statistics registries, regardless of whether the stillbirth resulted from a spontaneous or intentional pregnancy termination.

The registration of a stillbirth uses a different registration form than that which is used to register a death, although both forms have some common elements such as the cause, whether an autopsy was held, and the designation of the certifier. Statistics on births, stillbirths, and deaths are reported separately. There are editing procedures at both the provincial / territorial and at Statistics Canada to ensure that there are no duplicate records: a fetus born dead is registered as a stillbirth; one that is born alive and later dies, appears in both the birth and death statistics. In either of these situations the fetus may have been extracted from the woman by an induced abortion. Statistics for abortion, however, are based on hospital or clinic reports, the requirements for these are separate and different from those required under the vital statistics acts. On the very rare occasion when an induced abortion might result in a live birth (and possibly subsequent death) these cases may or may not be included in the Therapeutic Abortion Database. The Canadian Institute for Health Information, however, instructs hospital coders to identify a birth rather than an abortion in this situation, thus such cases would not be counted in the Therapeutic Abortion Database. It is unknown whether private clinics would still report an abortion if the outcome of the abortion procedure was a live birth.

As mentioned above, a termination of pregnancy resulting in the death of a fetus that meets the gestational age and/or weight defined as a stillbirth will be registered. However, retrieving all such events based on the underlying cause of stillbirth variable is not possible. The cause of stillbirth will not be classified as due to the termination of pregnancy (ICD-10 code P96.4) unless there is sufficient information to make this conclusion. The calibre of the certification of the medical cause of stillbirth certificate is such that often what is likely a stillbirth due to a termination of pregnancy, is classified to some other underlying cause.

In summary, a termination of a pregnancy of at least 20 weeks gestation can feasibly be included in both the Therapeutic Abortion Database and the Vital Statistics Stillbirth database. On the very rare occasion that the outcome of an induced abortion is a live birth (and possible subsequent death), the abortion event is highly unlikely to be included in the Therapeutic Abortion Database, but will appear in the Vital Statistics Birth and Death databases.

Footnotes:
(1) Stats Can defines “stillbirth” as follows: “Fetal death (stillbirth) is death prior to the complete expulsion or extraction from its mother of a product of conception, irrespective of the duration of pregnancy; the death is indicated by the fact that after such separation the fetus does not breathe or show any other evidence of life, such as beating of the heart, pulsation of the umbilical cord, or definite movement of voluntary muscles. Only fetal deaths where the product of conception has a birth weight of 500 grams or more or the duration of pregnancy is 20 weeks or longer are registered in Canada.” (from footnote 2 of CANSIM table 102-4514)

(2) Cell sizes less than 5 are suppressed due to privacy and confidientality


Table 1: Source: Statistics Canada, Canadian Vital Statistics, Stillbirth database
 

Table 2: Source: Canadian Institute for Health Information (CIHI), Discharge Abstract Database (DAD)/ Hospital Morbidity Database (HMDB)

Table 2: Notes

It is what it is

I don't understand what NDP leader Thomas Mulcair is saying regarding Mark Warawa's Motion 408.

This motion calls on Parliament to condemn discrimination against females occurring through sex-selective pregnancy termination.

This is what Mr. Mulcair said:
"Of course these are complicated issues, there’s no denying that, but we know what it’s really about. It’s Stephen Harper and his Reform party base trying to reopen the abortion debate. We’re not going to be fooled by it.”

Mr. Mulcair says that this is a complicated issue. It really isn't very complicated though. Is Mr. Mulcair against sex-selection abortion, or is he for it? If he's against it, he should vote in favour of the Motion. If he is for sex-selection abortion, he should just say so.

And if Mr. Mulcair truly believes that these are complicated issues, then maybe he should first inform himself on these complicated issues, instead of jumping to that really boring, old, hidden agenda fairy-tale, about Mr. Harper reopening the abortion debate. Nobody believes that anymore. Mr. Mulcair is as knowledgeable on that hypotheses as the rest of us: Mr. Harper will not now, and never will, let us talk about abortion. Not today, not tomorrow, and not in fifteen years from now.

So why is Mr. Mulcair pretending like this?

Instead of making wild leaps of logic from "complicated issue" to Mr. Harper's reopening the abortion debate, why doesn't Mr. Mulcair actually read Mr. Warawa's motion and see if it is something that he can support, based on what it actually says? Because if he did read the motion, and it's really not that complicated, he could decide in about ten seconds what he thinks of it.

For anyone to be against this motion, then they must be in fact, in favour of female feticide. And if they are in in favour of female feticide, then they should just say so, and stand up for what they believe in.

Nope, it's not complicated at all.

What do you think about abortion?

Ruth Lobo Shaw and James Shaw from CCBR, spoke at Annunciation of the Lord Parish Monday evening, December 3.

They ask the question: "What do you think about abortion?"