In Alberta, abortion is not a settled question although the two most-powerful politicians, Rachel Notley and Jason Kenney, appear to want it to be.
Both refuse to bring abortion related questions, such as health-care funding for abortions and parental consent for abortions performed for pregnant adolescents, to the floor of the legislature for debate, in spite of persistent lobbying by groups such as Project Wilberforce.
Beyond the maelstrom of public debate and the private familial turmoil triggered by their dilemma, pregnant women need compassion, understanding and support.
There is a small, faith-based service that helps women face the devastating, life-changing choice whether to have an abortion, or to carry a child to term, deliver it and continue to be its mother, or turn the infant over for adoption or foster care.
In a quiet basement suite at the Central Alberta Pregnancy Care Centre's Olds office, pregnant women receive a gentle, non-judgmental welcome and practical support with a decision to have or not to have an abortion.
If she decides to have an abortion, the volunteer counsellors and medical staff will make sure she has accurate medical information, help her find a qualified clinic and be with her after the procedure for counselling and comfort.
If she decides to carry the fetus to term, volunteers will help prepare her.
The centre, headquartered in Red Deer, offers a range of services such as confidential pregnancy tests, prenatal education, medical referrals, childbirth support, a young parenting program, post-abortion support and practical help such as maternity and baby clothing.
There is sexual health counselling and care.
There is also mentorship and counselling for fathers-to-be.
Abortion is no longer a legal question in Canada, but it is a human one.
Abortion was expunged from the Canadian Criminal Code in two steps.
In 1969 the federal Parliament legalized abortions approved by a Therapeutic Abortion Committee of three doctors who approved abortions when the life or health of the pregnant woman was threatened.
In 1988, the Supreme Court found that restrictions on abortion violate a pregnant woman’s constitutional rights in the Charter of Rights and Freedoms.
In that decision, the then-chief justice, Brian Dickson, wrote that “forcing a woman, by threat of criminal sanction, to carry a fetus to term unless she meets certain criteria unrelated to her own priorities and aspirations is a profound interference with a woman’s body.”
Physicians study when the fetus becomes viable to live outside the womb. Philosophers debate when a fetus attains personhood. Theologians ponder when God installs a soul.
Statistically, one in four Canadian women will have at least one abortion in her lifetime.
They have not made the decision casually. They face consequences.
One of those is post-abortion grief. A surprising number of women regret their choice. It may have been a necessary choice, but that doesn’t diminish their grief for the heartbeat that they carried.
Although most of the political clamour is to protect a woman’s hard-won right to a legal abortion, deciding not to have an abortion is also a pregnant woman’s choice.
That right needs to be protected too.
– Frank Dabbs is a veteran journalist and author.
