FRIGHTENING HYPOCRISY

Here's a question for politicians worried about what a Conservative
government led by Stephen Harper might try to do with Canada's abortion
laws: If you feel so passionately that the state should keep its laws off a
woman's body, why don't you support the principle consistently?

After all, the government has its laws all over the bodies of every man,
woman and child in Canada. Ingest a drug not approved by the state and the
police will slap handcuffs on you. Have sex in exchange for money and you'll
be thrown in jail. If it's outrageous to limit a woman's autonomy by
restricting her right to an abortion, it's an equal outrage that she cannot
smoke what she wants or have sex under whatever circumstances she chooses.
So why aren't pro-choicers furiously demanding the legalization of drugs and
prostitution?

The hypocrisy of taking a libertarian line on abortion and ignoring it on
other issues was sharply underlined by Deputy Prime Minister Anne McLellan's
reaction to the suggestion of Conservative MP Rob Merrifield that women
seeking abortions should be required to first have counselling on possible
alternatives for dealing with an unwanted pregnancy.

"The notion of state-imposed, third-party counselling, as if we are
children, as if we are not able to make our own decisions about our health
and our bodies, is to me, at the beginning of the 21st century, profoundly
disturbing and, dare I say it, it is very frightening," Ms. McLellan
sputtered as she campaigned to retain her Edmonton West seat for the
Liberals.

Students of recent history will note that this is the same Anne McLellan
who, as minister of justice, refused to even discuss the legalization of
prostitution or drugs. And this is the same Anne McLellan who, as minister
of health, shepherded the recently passed reproductive-technologies law,
which includes a provision stating that anyone seeking to use
assisted-reproduction services must first have counselling.

In other words, Ms. McLellan helped create the very "state-imposed,
third-party counselling" she claims is so frightening at the beginning of
the 21st century. As if we are children. As if we are not able to make our
own decisions about our health and our bodies.

Ms. McLellan's hypocrisy may be particularly extreme, but she is far from
alone, as the passage of the reproductive-technologies law demonstrates. The
law is rife with intrusions on personal autonomy, including a ban on sales
of sperm and eggs (which is already causing shortages and more suffering for
desperate couples). Did feminists shout "keep your hands off my eggs?" Did
pro-choice groups rally to defend the principle that all of us own our own
bodies? Not at all. They were basically silent.

As a result, it is now a crime in Canada to sell an egg and bring joy to a
childless couple, but it is perfectly legal to destroy a fetus. And if
people like Ms. McLellan continue to have their way, mandatory counselling
will be required for anyone seeking a donated egg or sperm while someone
seeking an abortion will be able to make that decision without any
counselling. Such an unprincipled approach offends all logic -- and should
offend anyone who has ever said, "Keep your laws off my body."